Wizz, a controversial app that has been called “Tinder for kids” has been used by sexual predators to exploit children, said a recent report by The Hill.
“Like, literally, when you think of Tinder, that’s what it is…trying to hook up or, like, date,” said Jada Maisonet, a 16-year old high school senior from Manhattan. “People are literally meeting up with strangers, like kids their age. Its really weird.”
The app, which allows users to ‘swipe’ in a way similar to Tinder, has over 16 million users and there have been numerous cases nationally when the app was used by predators.
- In Florida in 2024, a 20-year old man was arrested for using a computer to solicit a minor. An investigation revealed that he was speaking to a 14-year old girl on Wizz while claiming to be 16.
- In Washington, a 23-year old claimed to be 15 and was charged with rape after meeting up with a 12-year old girl on Wizz.
- A 19-year old Marine was charged with sexually assaulting an 11-year old girl he met on the app.
- A 27-year old man from Chicago is suspected of sexually assaulting a number of teenage girls he met on Wizz.
Stephan Balkam, the founder of the Family Online Safety Institute tested the app’s age verification system by signing up on Wizz as a 15-year old male. The app flagged his dummy account for review, but was approved five minutes later. Balkam is clearly not 15, as shown in this photo.
Wizz CEO Thomas Donniger said that Balkam’s test account was removed in less than two minutes.
“We’ve looked into this thoroughly, and here’s what actually happened: The person mentioned in the article tried to sign up for Wizz by lying about their age. Our age verification system — which runs on Yoti’s technology — caught the mismatch and shut down the account in 84 seconds flat … ” Donninger told the New York Post. “This is our safety tech doing exactly what it’s supposed to do.”
The Hill also tested Wizz’s age verification system, and a 28-year old staffer was able to create an account as a 16-year old.
Big Tech cannot be trusted to protect our children or do the right thing. Senate Republicans, led by Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) brought forward a bipartisan bill called the Kids Online Safety Act. Democrat Richard Blumenthal (D-CN) cosponsored the legislation. KOSA would require tech companies to take “reasonable care” to protect children when designing their applications. If a tech company does not take “reasonable care” and a child is harmed on their platform, they will be open to liability.
Congress should act immediately to protect our children. We cannot, and should not, allow bureaucratic procedure or political infighting to delay this key legislation. Big Tech is an industry where ethics only matter if there are monetary consequences. Protecting children should not be optional or a secondary consideration, and with 90% of kids having access to a smartphone, the Kids Online Safety Act must be a top legislative priority.
