Skout, a popular smartphone app for location-based dating, has shut down its under-18 services temporarily after receiving a series of minor rape claims involving its under-18 users.
"Until we can design better protections, we are temporarily shutting down the under-18 community," Christian Wiklund, the founder of Skout said on the company blog. Three men have been accused of sexually assaulting boys and girls ages 12 to 15 in the last couple of weeks. These men ages from 21 to 37 and were posing as teenagers to lure teenagers. "After working with law enforcement on a few troubling incidents in recent weeks, we have decided that this is the right step to ensure the safety of all of our users," Wiklund said in his statement.
The men charged were used Skout to contact minors. This app is popular for connecting strangers living nearby with its location check-in service. The founder is disgusted with what has happened and believes there is no choice but to shut down the service for minors temporarily.
The case, however, raises a question about whether the social networking services should allow under-18 users to use its services. Facebook is planning to allow user under-18 to use its service. The popular social network is working on a project now and talking to various kid-friendly companies like Walt Disney. The company believes it will create a safe environment for kids with complete parental control.
However, parents are not sure if this access will be good for children under-18. "We're seeing more of these cases," said Lt. Craig Carter of the Escondido Police Department. "Parents need to be aware that their kids could be on these Web sites. In this case, if her parents had taken her phone and looked at her messages on Skout, they would have immediately seen inappropriate responses for someone that is 12 years old."
Skout is currently updating safeguards after temporary closing its service to under-18s. The San Francisco-based company will test and update its safeguards before opening its service again for minor users.
