Among minors who use live-streaming platforms, about 44.4 percent have disclosed personal information to strangers, the Child Welfare League Foundation said on Sunday, calling for more security measures to be imposed on the platforms.
A poll released by the foundation found that 78.3 percent of the surveyed children have used online live-streaming services on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or other applications, while 9.4 percent have produced their own videos.
Sixty-seven percent of the surveyed minors said they want to make a living by producing videos or becoming Internet celebrities, because they believed that they could make more money and meet more people, the foundation said.
With live-streaming platforms playing a bigger role in young people’s lives, they are more likely to meet ill-intentioned strangers, divulge their personal information or become addicted to the point that it affects their offline lives, foundation executive director Chen Li-ju (陳麗如) said.
Of those polled, 44.4 percent said they have revealed their personal information to online friends, namely their ages, social media accounts, real names and schools, the poll showed.
Of those who stream their lives, 34.4 percent know more than 11 netizens who are adults, while 28.6 percent said they have met online friends alone, Chen said, expressing concern over the personal safety of children who are insufficiently vigilant against strangers.
Meanwhile, only 14.3 percent of the surveyed parents said they discuss Internet use with their children, while 85.7 percent said they do not know, the poll found.
Security protection measures and reporting procedures are seriously lacking on live-streaming platforms, Chen said.
Of the top 10 streaming applications, six give notifications that the service is only available to users older than 13, but only one has set up a certification procedure, she said, adding that users can log into most applications with their Facebook or Google accounts.
To protect underage children from dangerous online activities, Chen called on parents to pay more attention to their minors.
Streaming platforms should also establish more security measures to prevent underage people from using their services, she said, urging the government to propose more effective ways to supervise the booming industry.
The poll, which was conducted between Dec. 5 and Dec. 28 last year, collected 1,889 valid samples from students aged 12 to 17, and had a margin of error of 2.25 percentage points.
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