Friendly meetings between young people in order to create socialization groups. This is the initial goal of Yubo, an application that already has 70 million subscribers around the world. In France alone, Yubo’s third market behind the United States and England, two million have taken the plunge.
But an investigation by the Vakita medium reveals that criminal groups are using the social network to extort intimate photos and videos of young people. In a video of about ten minutes, Vakita details the modus operandi of the thieves. Initially, they simulate a love affair with a young user. By dint of requests, some manage to get a first intimate photo or video.
“Obviously Illegal Acts”
This is when the relationship takes a completely different turn. Threatened to have their images leaked online, victims are forced to provide more and more sexual content. At the same time, criminals feed private channels on Telegram where stolen images are offered in exchange for money.
On the set of the Tech&Co fair in May, Sacha Lazimi, founder and president of the company, indicated that 99% of the users of the application are between 13 and 25 years old. With a feature that allows you to select profiles by swiping to the right or left of the screen, Yubo quickly inherited the nickname “Tinder for teens.”
an exhaustive control
Security measures have also been put in place in this regard. Since September 2022, everyone must imperatively go through an age verification stage when registering. This is done “on the basis of a live selfie,” the company specifies to Tech&Co.
When a person’s face is scanned, an estimate of their age is made to compare it with the entered date of birth. Depending on the results of this comparison, a user will be authorized or not to access the platform.
But the security system doesn’t stop there, promises Yubo. The application continues to analyze a user’s activity on the platform to ensure that he is indeed of the declared age. The objective: to avoid interactions between adults -all ages are allowed in the application- and minors.
Known facts for a year
However, these security tools do not seem to be enough. In his investigation, the Vakita medium recounts the ordeal of a 13-year-old girl. A user who in theory should be under parental control: Yubo requires anyone under the age of 15 to provide the contact details of their legal representative.
Beyond the confirmation SMS, the validation of the registration is carried out again through an age verification by facial recognition. But this time, it is the parent who must appear to certify that she is over 30 years of age. A barrier that can sometimes be overcome.
Yubo thus confirmed to Tech&Co that it had been “aware of the existence of groups on encrypted messaging platforms (Telegram, editor’s note) disseminate illegal content” about some of its users “over a year ago”.
“These investigations have made it possible to permanently ban the users involved from our platform, and to make reports to both the law enforcement authorities and the platforms involved,” the company says in a press release issued after Vakita’s revelations.
The app claims to have contacted the authorities “as soon as the facts were discovered.” It also indicates that it has cooperated “fully for several years with Pharos”, the platform to report illegal content online.
A “serious phenomenon”
Yubo acknowledges a “very serious phenomenon” that “requires global and coordinated action from all industry players and public authorities.” That is also why the application has partnered with the French association for standardization (Afnor) to write a practical guide on the protection of minors on social networks.
Following the survey, the app launched a new awareness campaign among its users. The advice that is given is based on four points: never give personal information, do not add strangers on other platforms, check that the person you are talking to is not a fake account and, finally, do not send content that we can misrepresent. regret.
According to Tech&Co’s checks, a simple Telegram search can still find channels dedicated to the Yubo social network. Clicking on it shows a lot of photos of naked young girls. These channels, always updated, have several thousand subscribers.
Source: BFM TV
