That’s the stark message to parents of children in Wales from online safety expert Charles Conway of Gwersyllt based Clear as Crystal Training, who told us that thousands of Welsh teenagers are leaving themselves open to vile anonymous comments on a rising social network set to rival Facebook in popularity.“I’m going to watch you while you sleep and then kill you”
That’s just one of the terrifying comments sent to teens in Wales on Ask.fm, a new social network attracting up to 50,000 new users every day.
Other comments posted to Welsh users over the last few days include a 14 year old girl being urged to “kill yourself”, a year 7 high school girl being warned “next time I see you I’m going to rearrange your face” and another young girl being asked “can I rape you?”
“Because Ask.fm allows users to send anonymous comments and questions, it’s become a massive venue for Cyberbullying” said Conway. “The comments I’ve highlighted are only a very small sample of bullying messages sent to teens in Wales and all over the UK. I’ve seen children as young as 7 and 8 called ‘sluts’ and ‘whores’ on the site and this has a massive effect on the self-esteem and emotional wellbeing of victims which has had tragic consequences in recent months”
Website Linked to Teen Suicides
Ask.fm, based in Latvia, has been linked to at least four teen suicides in recent months. Ciara Pugsley (15), Erin Gallagher (13), Lara Burns (12) and Jessica Laney (16) all took their own lives between September and December of 2012, and all four had experienced bullying on the website.
“These young girls had their whole lives ahead of them before they were bullied mercilessly online” said Charles. “That’s why I’m asking parents in Wales to check their child’s browsing history today to check if their child is using websites like Ask.fm and to encourage them to delete their accounts if they are”
What is Ask.Fm?
Launched just two and a half years ago, the website boasts over thirty five million users worldwide buying into the simple concept of asking and answering questions about themselves.
Conservative estimates suggest that advertising on the site is worth over £4,000,000 a year to its founders, including young developer Mark Terebin who, in response to a question about cyberbullying on his own ask.fm profile told users “Ask.fm is just a tool which helps people to communicate with each other, same as any other social network, same as phone, same as piece of paper and pen. Don't blame a tool, but try to make changes… start with yourself... be more polite, more kind, more tolerant of others… cultivate these values in families, in schools.”
“The rate at which Ask.Fm is growing is terrifying” says Conway. “If it continues to grow at this rate, it could easily outstrip Facebook in terms of popularity over the next few years. There are virtually no privacy settings, there’s no way to report abuse or identify abusers and every single comment is open for anyone to see”
What can parents do?
Charles has this advice for parents worried about their child falling victim to cyberbullying
Talk to your kids. Make sure they know about the risk of cyberbullying and let them know that they can talk to you about it if it happens
Encourage your children not to respond to bullying comments as the bullies will thrive on their reactions and escalate their activity
Use parental control software to block inappropriate sites from being accessed by your kids