“There is a time to grow, and a time to learn to seduce.” The dangers of Crush, a dating app aimed at 10-21 year olds.

Last weekend, French influencer Offagna, who has a following of almost 5 million people on TikTok, caused a stir after promoting the dating app Crush. With its purple logo emblazoned with a small flame, the latter allows its users to find out, through polls, who are the people who are “crushing” (get it, crushing) on ​​them. Its feature is primarily that it is aimed at Internet users between the ages of 10 and 21. Enough to cause intense resentment. And with good reason, many accuse the app of not protecting its young users enough and potentially harboring child criminals. This is the case of Justin Altan, director of the e-Enfance Association, who denounces the dangers of this service reserved for the youngest.

Madame Figaro .- What to think of a dating app for teenagers?
Justin Altan: We may be concerned about this because it’s an opportunity for them to interact with adults whose intentions we don’t necessarily know. One can wonder how interesting this is, especially for the smallest ones. We’re talking about 10-year-olds here, who are in a fantasy world, a time of growing up and learning, and into whom we shouldn’t bring these questions of romantic feelings or even sexuality. There’s a time for everything, there’s a time to grow up, there’s a time to learn how to seduce, and we can ask ourselves how necessary it is for kids to use these types of dating apps.

Do you think this type of service should be banned for minors?
The question of the ban does not really arise. a child is not forbidden to talk to an adult, so it will not be understood that a child cannot communicate with an adult on the Internet. On the other hand, we can encourage prevention. This includes, for example, explaining to young people who visit these dating sites and apps that sometimes there are people out there with bad intentions who can harm them.

What risks does a teenager face by signing up for an app like Crush?
First, the risk of harassment, as a relationship of control can be created between users. Another problem is the obsession of teenagers to always try to seduce more. The attachment will reinforce their desire to please, and they risk becoming psychologically weak if they have the impression that they will not have the success they expect.

The risk of this app is to create groups, clans, of young people who do not necessarily have the same level of popularity as others.

Justin Altan

In Le Figaro , its creator Mark Allen claims. “Crush aims to combat school bullying by encouraging young people from the same institution to compliment each other through positive surveys.” What do you think ? Is this app really a bad idea?
His words raise the question of how to fight against school bullying. How will compliments be communicated between students? Are students guaranteed no hateful, aggressive or harassing messages? And in fact, the question of moderation arises. The risk of this application is the creation of youth groups, clans, which will not necessarily have the same level of popularity as others; and thus lead to situations of harassment, as those who are less popular risk receiving hateful and aggressive messages, in the same way that can happen every day on social networks. Crush remains an app that will a priori have the same problems as other apps used by young people.

Among the concerns raised by netizens is age verification, which is considered inadequate. What should be done to protect young users as much as possible?
As for age verification, we currently have few guarantees that it will be optimal. Would it really be impossible for an adult or a child under the required age to register on the application? What technical or administrative measures does Crush use to verify the actual age of its users? And first of all, if the user does not respect the age conditions, what will be the consequences for him? As for age verification, the question of parental consent also arises when children register on this network. You may wonder how this permission applies to new users. It is better to remember. under the age of 15, it is assumed that the application or website requires parental consent to collect the minor’s personal data. Then, what guarantee do we have from the application to verify that it was indeed the parent who responded to this permission request and not the child for its parents?

The app also asks for the user’s geography to offer a list of educational institutions near them. What is wrong with this feature?
Geolocation poses a problem for minors, whether it’s on Crush or any social network or website used by young people. He puts himself in danger because an adult can come and meet them. Let’s hope Crush has an option to turn off geolocation, like any site used by minors.