In an age where empathy and understanding are more valuable than ever, apps like Wizz – which connect users with potential new friends – can be incredibly welcome. Pairing people with others who share their interests, the app can unite mutual fans of the same music, find fellow foodies to exchange recipes with or recruit new players for someone’s favourite online game.
Indeed, the app’s tagline promises to “expand your world”. Is that expansion totally safe, however? As this week’s #WakeUpWednesday guide finds out, Wizz’s age verification system isn’t infallible – so, with the possibility of young people being matched with much older users, trusted adults might want to familiarise themselves with how this trending app actually works.
Recently rising in popularity among children and young people, Wizz is a social networking app that allows users to chat live with people from around the world. In similar fashion to a dating app, it facilitates conversations with people that users would not ordinary meet – but of course, making connections to individuals online bring its own self-evident potential safety issues.
While Wizz makes use of face recognition technology to assesses users’ age and group them by age group – but the software is far from perfect and is no guarantee that some individuals won’t attempt to exploit the app for sinister purposes.
If you have any questions or concerns about Online Safety, please contact the school office.
