Parents concerned over dangers of live video apps for teens

It looked like any other video chat at first, but when we continued watching, comments started to trickle in telling a young girl to pull up her shirt. Then, an adult male appeared and there was an indecent exposure. This happened on an app called "Live Me." Chances are you have never heard of it and neither did several parents we talked with.

"I don't like it. Parents should check in on their children," said Janis Frazier.

"Parents need to check themselves," said George Williams.

If you have teenagers, they probably know about this social media app. It has more than 50-million users and at any time, there could be 10,000 different live streams for people to watch. While we watched, we saw three toddlers sitting on a bed, a man smoking a hookah, a nearly naked woman using a propane tank to light a bong, and a man commenting about a young girl's body and asking to see more.

"Families Managing Media" is a group that is educating parents about what their children are doing on social media. The group also guides moms and dads through the digital age.

» WHAT TO KNOW: 7 social media apps that could put your child in danger

"There's new apps coming out every day, every week. You can restrict your child's phone today and tomorrow there is going to be a new app they find out about at school, " said Holly East, a social media expert from Families Managing Media.

East said parents who have children with smart phones need to have full transparency. This means they should have all the passwords and be able to access the device whenever they please. According to East, adults can no longer assume that the blockers they put on their children's phones will work.

"There is not one parental control that is one hundred percent," East said.

"Parents need to see everything," said Melanie Hempe, social media expert with Families Managing Media.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Live Me said, "The app is committed to building a safe and friendly live broadcasting community" and that the app uses artificial intelligence to monitor broadcasts. The spokesperson also said that the app has 100 moderators who are paid to keep an eye on live feeds but that it is difficult to keep track of everything. .

However, our social media experts said even though it is not always comfortable, parents need to have serious conversations with their children to make sure they stay safe.

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