'Perfect storm for kids': Warning about Tinder-style app for teens

Canada’s tip line for reporting online sexual abuse of children is warning parents and caregivers about an app that has generated more reports than any other platform last year.

According to Cypertip.ca, Wizz is a chat app that combines features similar to those seen on the dating app Tinder and Omegle, an online service designed to pair strangers in video chats.

Cypertip.ca director Stephen Sauer says while there are some AI tools on the app to try to prevent adults from chatting with children, it’s not foolproof.

“You can often have kids who get onto the platform who are connected to adults that are looking to sexually offend against them.”

That can involve coercing kids to send sexual images and then threatening to distribute them if the child doesn’t send money.

Kids can also perpetrate this type of exploitation as well, Sauer said.

The tip line has received over 180 reports concerning Wizz since 2021. Compared to 2022, the organization received 10 times as many reports about the app in 2023.

Of these reports, 91 per cent concerned sextortion, with males victimized in 93 per cent of cases when gender was known

The majority of victims were between 15 and 17 years old.

Sauer says kids who are being exploited in this way are at a vulnerable stage in their lives where they’re exploring their sexuality with technology right at their fingertips.

“It’s kind of this perfect storm for kids right now where they really have no other avenue other than to explore this in this way, and then they get caught up or extorted or manipulated or coerced into creating and sending sexual pictures.”

Sauer says it’s important for parents and kids to know there is help through Cybertip.ca if they are exploited in this way.

“We can help them walk through and intervene in the situation.”

Parents and caregivers are also reminded to have regular conversations with their kids about online sexual violence and what apps they’re regularly using.

Sauer says these conversations are especially important when the child first gets a smart device.

“Ensure that they understand that this is a device that they are allowing them to use, that it’s still your device and you can still have control to review what’s happening and ensure they’re safe online.”

- With files from CTV’s Rachel Lagacé