Until last month, many adults who work in schools had probably never heard of an app
But chilling interactions on that social networking platform鈥攃alled Yubo鈥攈ave surfaced between kids around the world and the 18-year-old who killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, last week.
That鈥檚 left school counselors, teachers, and others who support teenagers grappling with how to help when another kid online sends ; or .
Educators say it鈥檚 critical that students understand such behavior is unacceptable, even if it has become so common in digital spaces that at least one girl who interacted with the shooter in the weeks leading up to the May 24 slayings didn鈥檛 find anything particularly remarkable about it. She told the Washington Post: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how online is.鈥�
That reaction doesn鈥檛 surprise Roberto Aguilar, a school counselor at Milwaukie High School, near Portland, Ore.
Such behavior, 鈥減robably is normalized,鈥� online, Aguilar said. But he wants his students to know that 鈥渏ust because it鈥檚 [considered] normal doesn鈥檛 mean you have to stand for it. You can, at least in your own world, demand change. We shouldn鈥檛 settle for being treated this way.鈥�
One obvious way to challenge disturbing behavior young people encounter online: Tell an adult and report it to the app, said Erin Wilkey Oh, the content director for family and community engagement at Common Sense Media, a San Francisco based nonprofit research organization that studies technology鈥檚 impact on kids.
But that didn鈥檛 seem to help in this case. One teen, who shared a recorded death threat from the shooter with the said he and his friends reported the shooter to Yubo multiple times. But they never heard back from the social media company, which is open to users as young as 13, and the shooter鈥檚 profile appeared to remain active, the Post reported.
Companies like Yubo, 鈥渁re unable to moderate and respond well to this kind of discourse on their platform,鈥� Wilkey Oh said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 a huge problem.鈥�
Yubo did not respond to 澳门跑狗论坛鈥檚 requests for information about how the company handled reports of the shooter鈥檚 online behavior or how it verifies the age of people using the platform. A spokeswoman told the Post that Yubo could not say whether it received reports about the shooter鈥檚 interactions on its platform, or legally share information about them, because they are part of an ongoing investigation. She did not tell the paper which law barred Yubo from disclosing those details.
Preparing kids for the new 鈥榖oogeyman鈥�
When social media companies fail to act on students鈥� reports, it reinforces the idea that harassment and threats are just 鈥渘ormal behavior,鈥� said Lydia McNeiley, a counselor at Scott Middle School in Hammond, Ind.
School counselors have gotten used to helping students identify and steer clear of adult predators on social media platforms, McNeiley said. But now, she feels she needs to prepare her middle schoolers for creepy behavior from kids nearer their own age.
In the past, 鈥渢he boogeyman didn鈥檛 look like the 17- or 18-year-old next door. Now he does,鈥� McNeiley said. In their online interactions, she wants her students to consider what 鈥減ositive relationships look like,鈥� especially when they are getting attention from someone online who disguises harassment as romantic interest, she said.
If they are going to help with specific cases of online harassment, counselors need to build relationships with kids, she added.
鈥淭hat way, when something like this happens, they can talk to you about it,鈥� McNeiley said. 鈥淭hey might not want to have those conversations with their parents, because the parents might not know they鈥檙e on these chats.鈥�
It would have been difficult for many of the people who had unsettling interactions with the shooter on the app to report him to law enforcement, since he was identified only by a username and photo.
That also leaves school counselors limited in what they can do if a student has concerns about the mental state of someone living far away. When a kid feels threatened locally, 鈥渨e will report it right away,鈥� Aguilar said. 鈥淏ut if they鈥檙e in Toronto, or whatever, I don鈥檛 know how we notify the authorities.鈥�
One of Aguilar鈥檚 students told him that they had connected on another social media app鈥擠iscord鈥攚ith a suicidal kid in another state. In response, Aguilar pressed for information, even a phone number, which the student was reluctant to givet. Ultimately, in an instance like that, he can鈥檛 do much to intervene.
A sector of apps aimed at young people
Apps like Yubo have found their own niche in the social media space.
Yubo鈥攚hich tells teens it will help them 鈥渇ind your crew based on your interests鈥濃�攁llows users to create a profile, share their location, and check out images of people in their area and around the world. They can jump in on livestreams, or peruse profiles, swiping right on those they like and swiping left on those they don鈥檛, just like adults do on the Tinder dating app. Users who 鈥渓ike鈥� each other can communicate directly, on streaming video.
Yubo鈥檚 user base has grown from 40 million in 2020 to 60 million in 2022. Ninety-nine percent of those users are between the ages of 13 and 25, , which reports on technology and startups.
But while Yubo allows kids as young as 13 to join, it is not appropriate for children that age,
The nonprofit recommended that users should be at least 17 years old. 鈥淔or kids, the app is a no-go,鈥� the group wrote.
Still, the concept isn鈥檛 unique. Other apps allow teens to browse photos and then chat online with strangers, including Wizz 鈥� Make New Friends, BIGO Live , and MeetMe 鈥� Meet, Chat & Go Live, according to Common Sense Media.
Those kinds of interactions are 鈥減retty impossible to moderate,鈥� said Christine Elgersma, a senior editor for learning content at Common Sense Media.
Yubo has an online safety guide and cautions users against posting inappropriate content. But, when Common Sense Media examined the app, 鈥渋t was easy to find substance use, profanity, racial slurs, and scantily clad people,鈥� the nonprofit鈥檚 review said. Livestreams showed teens 鈥渟moking marijuana, using racial slurs, and talking about graphic sex.鈥� What鈥檚 more, anonymous viewers can comment on and even record live-streamers, the organization found.
Particularly troubling for educators: Teens sometimes livestreamed on the app at school, Common Sense Media found.
Until very recently, anyone claiming to be 13 or older could download the app. But it was easy for kids younger than 13 to game the system by lying about their age, Common Sense Media found.
Last month, though, Yubo announced it will address such concerns by adding age-verification software for users who claim to be 13 or 14 years old. Younger teens don鈥檛 tend to have official government identification, so the app requires them to upload a photo. It then uses facial recognition software鈥攚hich the company says has a 98.9 percent accuracy rate鈥攖o figure out if the user appears to be the age listed in their profile. Yubo plans to use the screening process for all ages by the end of the year, .
What adults can help kids watch for
Caring adults鈥攊ncluding teachers, counselors, and school leaders鈥攃an help teens pinpoint the 鈥渞ed flags鈥� that might signal they鈥檙e more likely to find hate speech, violent threats, or graphic sexual content on an app, Wilkey Oh of Common Sense Media said.
For example, kids should be on their guard when a site allows them to be anonymous. Anonymity isn鈥檛 a sure sign that users will encounter 鈥渢his kind of cruelty鈥� on a particular platform, but the two often go hand-in-hand, Wilkey Oh said. Anonymous users are less likely to think about the consequences of their behavior.
Other Yubo features, like private chat rooms, also 鈥渃arry risk鈥� she said, because it鈥檚 tough for outsiders to see what goes on in them.
Students also need to consider how apps like Yubo impact them emotionally, especially one that essentially has kids decide who to interact with based mostly on physical appearance.
Teens should ask themselves, 鈥渄oes it feel like a supportive community, or does it feel toxic?鈥� If students are unable to quit an app that they realize is detrimental to them, the adults in their lives need to help them understand why, Wilkey Oh said.
Those are particularly critical questions for kids currently in middle and high school, McNeiley said. Much of their social life already was taking place online, but during the pandemic, they were isolated and often left to their own devices鈥攍iterally, she said.
鈥淏ecause of the pandemic, they were at home so much that they kind of [went] supersonic,鈥� on platforms like Yubo, she said. 鈥淧arents were working, [kids] were at home, what were they doing? This is what they were doing. This [online] culture is across the board. This [goes] beyond race, beyond the class. ... This is this generation, and what are we going to do about it?鈥�
