A social app called Wizz, often dubbed “Tinder for kids,” has been exposed for linking minors with sexual predators.
Multiple arrests across the U.S. have involved adult predators who used Wizz to groom and assault teens they met on the platform, according to a report urging congressional action by Haley McNamara (executive director and chief strategy officer) and Lily Moric (communications and campaigns specialist) at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
Marketed as a fun way for teens aged 13 and up to make new friends, Wizz mimics the swipe-right, swipe-left mechanics of adult dating apps like Tinder, allowing users to connect with complete strangers for chats and potential meetups
According to reports, Wizz boasts over 16 million users, including nearly 4 million daily active ones, many of whom are underage teens in cities like New York, where the app has exploded in popularity.
Teens as young as 12 are swiping through profiles featuring provocative photos like shirtless selfies or sports bras and turning the supposed “friend-finding” app into a hookup hub riddled with risks.
One 16-year-old Manhattan high schooler told the New York Post in October, “It’s like Tinder for kids… It’s marketed as a wholesome app when it’s actually not.”
Adult sexual predators are also using the app to target children.
McNamara and Moric wrote:
What’s the result of this app design? A12-year-old girl meeting up with a supposed 14-year-old boy that Wizz connected her with … only to discover the “boy” was an adult male, who sexually assaulted her.
An 8th grader being sexually abused by a 27-year-old man, then finding out she was only one of several underage girls he had groomed through Wizz.
An 11-year-old girl being sexually assaulted by a U.S. Marine she met on Wizz.
All this in the last year alone. And there are many more cases.
In Canada, Cybertip.ca has received over 180 reports since 2021 involving Wizz, many tied to sextortion scams where predators blackmail kids with intimate images to extract more nudes or money.
Predators often build false trust by faking shared interests or locations, using profile details to manipulate victims.
The app was even temporarily yanked from Google Play and the Apple App Store in early 2024 over these sextortion concerns, only to return with the same 12+ rating and minimal changes.
Wizz’s parent company, based in Paris, claims “safety is our top priority,” touting features such as biometric age verification via face scans and profile consistency checks to match users with age-appropriate matches. But experts and advocates say these tools are easily bypassed, and online safety groups have demonstrated how adults can pose as kids.
The app has also been accused of overriding internal safety flags to keep users engaged.
Similar issues have plagued apps like Kik, another anonymous messenger used by children and teens that became a predator haven.
In their op-ed, the authors from the National Center on Sexual Exploitation argued:
The message is clear: Big Tech cannot be trusted to self-regulate. We can’t let them mark their own homework when it comes to safety. The only way to incentivize these companies to change is for Congress to pass legislation that holds them accountable if their products are found to be unsafe.
One particularly promising solution pending before Congress is the Kids Online Safety Act, a bipartisan bill that establishes a Duty of Care for online platforms likely to be accessed by children. What this means is that tech companies must take “reasonable care” to design those platforms with child safety in mind.
It’s a pretty basic concept. Before Subaru releases a new car, they must ensure it has functioning brakes, air bags and various other effective safety mechanisms. If they don’t, and someone is injured as a result, they can be held liable.
It should be the same for Big Tech. Currently tech is the only industry that does not have to worry about liability if its products are designed in unsafe ways.
They added, “The Kids Online Safety Act has been carefully revised over the years after consultation with several minority and special interest groups, to ensure that it will not be misused for censorship. It has specific language in place to block any application that would violate free speech. It clearly lays out what harms are covered under the bill, to avoid any overly broad interpretation.”
The post Wizz, an App with 16 Million Users and Nicknamed the ‘Tinder for Kids,’ Exposed for Linking Children to Sexual Predators appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.