Social Media Apps are a part of day-to-day activities now, so the number of users increases every year. People get addicted to social media and don’t hesitate to share their personal information and day-to-day routine on social media. As we all know, every coin has two sides. Social Media, too, has two sides. Some create social awareness and are useful, whereas some apps make people addicted to them and list the most dangerous social media apps. Here in this article, we have enlisted the 13 most dangerous social media apps.

Social media is an online platform where users can interact with other people, share & post their content online. Today’s kids, tweens, and teens are using social media apps excessively. Even adults spend a lot of time on social media. Sharing knowledge and content through social media for many children and young people is part of everyday life.

It isn’t rare for children to be linked to unknown individuals they have never met directly. People are getting addicted to social media. There are many dangers of social media apps. Your child may be exposed to inappropriate content. The more social media they use, the more possibilities they might be the victims of cyberbullying. As a parent, you shouldn’t allow your underage children to use social media apps.

Is Social Media Safe to Use For Kids?

Most of the social networking apps don’t have age verification. Everyone can make social media accounts. Your kids need to be 13 or over 13 years old. So it means that below 13 years old kids aren’t allowed to use social media. It’s not guaranteed that you only view appropriate content, messages, and posts on any social networking sites. In social media, there are many dangers that you should be careful of.

Kids will not be aware of what to post and what not to post on social media apps. They share their personal information and make their profile public. They even interact with people whom they don’t know. These are the major mistakes that majorities of kids do on social media apps. These mistakes are the invitation for online predators and scammers whose sole intention is to harm your children.

For underage children, social networking apps aren’t safe. You should be careful and allow your kids to use social media after they are 13 years old. Even you grant them to use social media. Make sure you monitor their social media activities to protect them from the danger of social networking sites. There are many tracking apps to monitor your kid’s online activities.

What Are The Dangers of Social Media?

Social networking is an unsafe environment for children. You can find many mature and explicit content on social media. The content may include pornography, violence, drug abuse, harassment, animal killing, and other harmful content. Your kids might be exposed to this inappropriate content that you don’t want your children to be watching as a parent.

Many users on social networking sites and kids can’t figure out which profile is genuine. Your kids may be exposed to online predators or scammers. Kids are unaware of these kinds of malicious people. These online predators or scammers are the ones who try to destroy kids’ lives because kids are the easy target for them. They will create a negative impact on your kid’s mind.

Social media dangers include cyberbullying, identity theft, social media addiction, and many more. These all dangers can be harmful to your child’s overall development. If your kids haven’t reached the age level to use social media, you should restrict them from using it.

Read More: How to protect kids from cyberbullying and harassment?

13 Most Dangerous Social Media Apps

Many social media apps can be easily accessed by kids. Yet, they don’t know about the negative effects of social media sites. They might get affected by the danger of social media apps. Children using anonymous messaging apps or social media apps are vulnerable to predators. Here are the 13 most dangerous social media apps.

1. Snapchat

Snapchat is a popular photo, short stories, and messages-sharing app. It’s also known as the “bubble message” app. Most young adolescents use this app. You can

• record short stories and can send them to your friend list.
• Capture your photos where you can find many filter options.
• Share your photos and videos with your friends only but can’t share them in public.

This app is dangerous to use because the message will disappear automatically. You won’t be able to monitor their Snapchat message if you want to. The Snapchat username can also be faked as it doesn’t require the real name to get started. So your kids might be interacting with the fake account. It also provides the detailed location of your kid’s devices. There are chances of viewing the mature content on the stories. it is very easy for intruders to hack the Snapchat account. That’s why Snapchat is listed on the top of the 13 most dangerous social media apps.

2. Instagram

It is a platform where users post their photos and videos online. It’s owned by Facebook. It is the most popular photo and video sharing app. You can also add short 15 sec stories on Instagram. You can follow your friend or any public profile. Now on the latest Instagram updates, there is a shop function where you can purchase anything.

You can share your content directly on Facebook. You can also do live streaming and can see live videos.

To use Instagram, your children need to be 13 or over 13 years old. Recently the major issue of Instagram is many users’ accounts are getting hacked. Many kids are receiving phishing links. Your kid can be exposed to adult photos and videos as you can’t filter or hide those explicit content from appearing on the search bar.

If your kid’s account is public, then everyone can check their Instagram profile. Children are doing sad fishing on this social media app.

3. Kik

It’s a messaging app that helps teenagers to communicate with anyone with a username only. Most teenagers use this messaging app. You can interact with anyone and can send photos, text, and sketches.

This app can be downloaded by anyone. There’s a 17+ age restriction, but no age verification is needed. This messaging app is dangerous to use because your children can communicate with anonymous people. Online predators can send adult photos and videos to your kids. The major issue of the messaging app is most kids and teens are facing cyberbullying.

4. AskFm

This is a social networking application that allows users to ask questions and others to answer their questions. Your answer can be in different forms like text and voice messages. If you have any queries, you have to post the question, and your friend or anonymous can answer your queries.

This question and answer social media contain many harmful contents. You can find people asking many abusive, vulgar questions. Some people use this app to harm other people. They negatively answer the question. This social networking site also has some issues related to privacy settings. Cyberbullying is also a major problem that led many people to suicide.

5. Tumblr

Tumblr is a microblogging social networking app. Users can post all kinds of micro-content on this app, like photos, videos, audio messages, links, etc. It encourages teens to create their content and share that content with others. It is easy to connect, comment on their blogs and share any of their posts on your profile. It’s a dangerous app for kids.

This is a very dangerous app for children. Every post is public, and everyone can watch it. If someone posts any mature content on this site, there is a probability that your kids can encounter mature content. Many scammers and predators have fake profiles to post inappropriate images and videos. It can create a negative impact on children. It has no parental control settings, and reporting the blog is difficult.

6. Tinder

Tinder is one of the world’s best-known dating applications. It provides a dating platform where users can find their perfect match. You can also have a conversation with anyone you find compatible with. Tinder uses GPS tracking features to track and display other nearby Tinder users. Most teenagers and young adults use Tinder. You can check other profiles and can like their photos.

Online predators and cybercriminals can make fake tinder profiles and can chat with your teens. They can create a negative influence on young adolescents. They can send adult content to your conversation. The main danger of this app is catfishing. It’s an activity where users create a fake profile and post fake photos to gain someone’s attention. They intend to create a fake relationship and to harm other personal lives.

7. Whisper

Whisper is a social media app where users can confess or post their secret talk anonymously. Users can post photos or text. Users can interact with other users. It also uses GPS tracking features to track other whisper users. Most teenagers and adults use this application. Users can easily create their accounts without needing any name, location, and other verification.

Whisper users can comment, like, and share other confessions. As the users are anonymous, they can leave harmful, abusive, and offensive comments on others’ confessions. You can’t find their actual location. If teens and adults post sad or need help confessing, the anonymous users can take advantage of your children’s situation. Your kids can find many suicidal notes and inappropriate content on this app.

8. Omegle

Omegle is a video-sharing platform where users can video chat with any stranger. You can randomly choose any user and can chat with them. It helps Omegle users to connect without exchanging personal information with strangers. The chat pairs random people, known as “You” and “Stranger.”

This is one of the dangerous social media apps for children. Your child can use this app as an adult. Strangers can pair and video chat with your kids and bully them. Your kids may receive abusive and offensive language. All the chat and content on the website are unregistered. If strangers record their chat activities and share any private information, this app stores all their data.

9. Telegram

Telegram is a well-known instant messaging app. Both iOS and Android users can use this social media app. You can send photos, videos, files, etc., on Telegram. This IM(instant messaging) app has special features like end-to-end encryption and automatic disappearing messages.

This app is also dangerous for kids, tweens, and teens. Suppose someone tries to contact your kids and send explicit content. It makes it difficult to monitor your kid’s messages, and children can also chat in “secret chat,” which is encrypted, and outsiders won’t be able to check their messages. Your kids can get exposed to cybercriminals and can chat with them in a secret chat. Your children can be groomed by online predators.

10. Blendr

Blendr is a fun place to date and to create new friends. It’s a social dating app. The dating site is technologically unique, combines social networking and GPS censoring, and

• you can learn who is nearby you and discuss.
• Can find any match or Blendr users from the Geolocation tracking feature.
•  Can post photos, videos and also can view other users’ posts.

It would help if you had any verification to create a Blendr account. So strangers can create an account with fake names and photos. Your children may be talking with the wrong person. They can get the private information of kids and can harm them. For underage kids, this app isn’t appropriate.

11. MeWe

MeWe is a social media ad-free network that is accessible through any digital device. It’s just like Facebook, as the site uses the same functionality. You can post content, share, like, and comment on other content, just like Facebook. Here you can also find the disappearing messages function just like Snapchat and telegram. MeWe posts their content in chronological order.

This is a social media platform, so there is a possibility that your kids can get exposed to mature content. The major issue of this app is fake profiles. There are many fake profiles on this app. Cyberbullying also occurs in this app. Unknown users can bully your kids. Other users can share any inappropriate content, and your kids may stumble on it mistakenly. This social media app is dangerous for kids and teens.

12. TikTok

Everyone is familiar with this video-sharing app as it is a popular social media app. TikTok allows users to create a short 15 seconds video and can post them online. It’s a content-creating platform where users lip-sync other music videos. You can edit your videos, add filters to your videos and share them with your followers. You can also use live streaming. All age groups of people used the Tiktok app.

Though it has a parental control setting, your children can see inappropriate language and comments. By default, your kid’s or teen’s profile is public, and anyone can view it. Strangers can talk with your children. They can also search for inappropriate content. The main danger of this app is addiction. Once your children start using it, they will be addicted to this video-sharing app.

13. Houseparty

Houseparty is a video-chatting app. Users can then interact through live video. They can even text in group chats to each other. Users can also play games in this app. Users can also record the video-chattings session with their friends. As there are no screening tools available, you kids may stumble on mature content. They can even communicate with the wrong person. Users can send all the content and links to others.

Conclusion

Hence, these are the 13 most dangerous social media apps. You should be careful if your children are using these social media apps. You can use the best parental control apps to monitor your kid’s online activities. Make sure you encourage your kids to avoid such dangerous social media apps.