Similar spot checks of Twitch’s less popular competitors, YouTube Gaming and Facebook Gaming, turned up far fewer instances of apparent children livestreaming. To stream on YouTube via mobile, a user must have over 1,000 followers. Facebook Live doesn’t have a comparable restriction, but its live channel discovery sections for Facebook Gaming and Facebook Live appear more curated or moderated than Twitch’s. (Facebook also works with about 15,000 content moderators in the US alone.) That doesn't mean those platforms are faultless; Facebook Live in particular has struggled publicly with moderating violent or dark livestreams. And issues with child predation and exploitation extend well beyond livestreaming; The New York Times reported earlier this year that instances of media related to online child sexual abuse increased 50 percent in 2019, including 60 million photos and videos flagged by Facebook alone.
The dozens of active accounts WIRED discovered on Twitch sometimes contain harrowing conversations between apparent children and strangers. In some instances, the strangers “dare” young streamers for their entertainment, including asking young girls to flip their hair or kiss their friend on-camera. Other times, strangers ask for young streamers' contact information on other apps such as Facebook-owned Instagram or WhatsApp. (Twitch also has an integrated private chat feature.) They also pretend to donate money, making a chat message appear like a verified donation, or post inappropriate ASCII art in chat. The streamers themselves are by and large unsupervised.
WIRED shared dozens of ..
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