Children are being put at risk of grooming by a controversial mobile app, the NSPCC has warned.
Yellow, which has been described as ‘Tinder for teenagers’, is marketed as “an easy and free way to make new chat friends”.
It allows children to view different online profiles and communicate with strangers via the picture-messaging app Snapchat.
Safety fears
Sonya Ryan, an online safety advocate, said she immediately came across requests for nude images when she was testing the app.
She also warned that users can easily fake their age and identity.
Dating app Tinder recently raised its minimum age to 18, after critics warned that paedophiles could use it to groom children.
Predators
Commenting on the Yellow app, a spokesman for the NSPCC said: “Any app that allows strangers to send photos to children or vice versa is troubling”.
He added: “Yellow’s settings that enable adults to view children, through a service blatantly aimed at flirting and relationships, also creates an opportunity for sexual predators to target young people. This needs to be urgently addressed.”
“We would urge parents to have a conversation with their children so that they know how to stay safe online”, he concluded.
New powers
A representative from Yellow, which claims to have more than 5 million users, said the company are working to address the problem.
Last month, the Government announced that pornography websites which refuse to verify the age of users will be forcibly blocked.
The British Board of Film Classification is to be handed new powers to punish internet providers if they fail to ensure such sites are performing age verification checks.