Official Thread Chatroom Safety

keep your children safe online​

There’s no denying that our children’s lives are impacted by the online world. With everything from education to entertainment to socializing having an online component, it’s difficult to escape an onslaught of digital platforms.

While staying connected to friends and peers and can be beneficial for children, the online world presents a wide range of threats. Chats are conducted through a number of different platforms, including instant messaging systems, email, social media, and web forums. But these often expose children to dangers such as cyberbullying, scams, predators, and malware.

Since it would be virtually impossible for most children to avoid online communications entirely, parents and children need to work together to ensure that online chat applications can be used safely. This includes maintaining open discussions about which platforms are being used, what topics are being discussed, and with whom.

In this guide, we explain the different ways children are communicating online, the main risks presented by online chat, and steps you can take to help your child stay safe.

Where are children communicating online?​

There are virtually endless possibilities for ways to communicate online and most of these are easily accessible by children. Here are the main methods of communication:

• Instant messaging: While texting was popular in the past, instant messaging systems are often the chat vectors of choice for children and teens. You have the most popular services such as Messenger, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and iMessage, but there are also many lesser-known applications such as WeChat, Oovoo, and Kik Messenger.
• Social media: Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Twitch, and TikTok offer a variety of communication methods including posts, comments, and direct (private) messages.
• Email: While it’s less popular among children and teens, email remains a viable method of communication and is one that represents serious risks, including phishing and malware attacks.
• Chat rooms and message boards: There are a ton of opportunities for children with similar interests to chat. Forums are often dedicated to or especially popular with users with a particular interest, for example, Discord is favored among gamers. Not all forums are standalone and websites might host their own chat rooms or message boards.
• Video conferencing: While not new, video conferencing platforms have exploded recently. Apps like Houseparty and Airtime enable groups of people to “hang out” and chat via VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and video.

Children may use these platforms with or without permission from an adult, as there are very few barriers to setting up an account. Even if a platform has age restrictions, there is nothing to stop a child lying about their age when they create an account. Most of these platforms can be used on desktop and mobile devices, including internet-enabled tablets and smartphones.

What are the dangers of online chat?​

Unfortunately, there are a ton of dangers related to online chat, some more serious than others, but all worth being wary of. Here are the main risks to consider:

General privacy​

When signing up for and using digital platforms, many children (and adults) fail to consider what information they are handing over. Social media sites and other applications harvest personal information and track user activity around the web, often using the information for monetary gain such as through targeted advertising. Even the contents of private communications aren’t safe and the biggest tech companies have admitted to scanning emails and messages.

Cyberbullying​

You don’t have to spend long on any platform (open or private) to find instances of cyberbullying. Just like offline bullying, online bullying can happen to anyone and for any (or no) reason. However, online bullying can be particularly dangerous because of several factors, including accessibility and anonymity. For example, it’s now possible for an adult man to anonymously cyberbully a teen girl in another continent without anyone else knowing it’s happening.


Cyberbullying can take a ton of different forms, including:

• Spreading of falsified information intended to cause embarrassment for or incite hate against the victim.
• Sharing of messages, images, or videos that are intended to be private and may cause discomfort to the subject.
• Publicizing information that is intended to be private.
• Conducting online polls that cause distress to the victim.
• Pages or groups formed to bully victims.
• Threats of unwanted actions such as physical harm or [removed text]ual violence.

Cyberbullying can take an extreme toll psychologically. There are far too many cases of online bullying leading to depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide in children, teens, and adults.

Online predators​

Unfortunately, a lot of nefarious characters lie in wait to take advantage of children online. Some predators will simply scan online chat forums gathering data that could be used in online or offline attacks. For example, they might learn about what school a child goes to, who their friends are, their interests, where they might be at a given time, and what they look like. This and other data could be used to connect with the child on or offline and quickly earn their trust.

Many predators will try to connect with children directly via chat platforms, often posing as peers or other trusted individuals such as teachers, coaches, law enforcement personnel, or celebrities. They might persuade children to send [removed text]ually explicit images of videos, or perform [removed text] acts in front of a webcam. They may even arrange to meet up (which often leads to cases of physical or [removed text]ual abuse and even human trafficking) and in some extreme cases, persuade a child to “run away” to live with them.

How can I help my child stay safe online?​

The prospect of many of the threats above can be terrifying to parents. Thankfully, there are ways to help your child avoid many dangers and deal with those that do arise in a safe manner.

Here are our top tips to improve internet safety for your children:

1. Keep an open conservation and discuss guidelines
2. Help them set up online accounts
3. Adjust privacy settings
4. Never share personal information online
5. Avoid sharing pictures
6. Use parental controls
7. Keep software up to date and use an antivirus
8. Use a VPN

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