Twisted Toys campaign highlights dangers for children in digital playgrounds

Campaign is producing satirical video ads and made-up product descriptions to bring awareness to dangers of digital playgrounds

Parents, advocates and lawmakers would be outraged if teddy bears tracked children’s sleep patterns, toys spewed racist vitriol, or walkie-talkies linked up children with sexual predators.

But online, according to a new awareness campaign launching Wednesday, young people are constantly immersed in a digital playground designed without safety in mind, leaving them vulnerable to bullying, unwanted contact and exploitation.

“A lot of the things that are difficult for kids are not bugs, they’re features. They’re not moments. They’re systemic throughout the digital world,” said Beeban Kidron, chair of the 5Rights Foundation, which is behind the Twisted Toys campaign.

“All we’re trying to say is, ‘Look, here is the problem.’”

Campaigners say advertising tech companies collect over 78m data points on a child by the time they turn 13 years old – and there is not enough focus on protecting children in the current online world.

Nearly three in 10 children aged 8 to 13 in the UK share their personal details with people they meet online. Facebook’s umbrella of apps has often been weaponized by predators to send children sexual communications, and Instagram actively places children’s profiles in front of pedophiles.

“Do they know this? Yes, they do know this,” Kidron said. “It isn’t the intent of the design. But the lack of intent to protect kids before you optimize is the problem.”

The Twisted Toys campaign is producing short, satirical video ads and made-up product descriptions to highlight the dangers. The campaign spotlights a “share bear” that discerns a kid’s “immigration status” and “sexual preferences” for “billion dollar tech companies”; a “stalkie talkie” that “uses algorithms which match children with adult strangers”; and a “pocket troll” that offers “personalised comments and mild psychological torture”, among other so-called toys.

“We do not accept this anywhere else; we must not accept it online,” says the campaign website.

On social media, a whopping 58% of girls say they’ve suffered online harassment, including stalking, body shaming, threats of physical or sexual violence, racist or anti-LGBTIQ+ comments and sexual harassment.

Though many young people skip the terms and conditions entirely, children who try to read those policies on popular websites such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or Youtube will likely be stymied by the university reading level required to understand them.

And, as children try to get rest before school or the big game, they’ll lose around an hour of sleep if they’re on their phones or computers at bedtime.

“These features are asking for adult discriminations. They’re asking for adult capacity, they’re asking for adult level of responsibilities. And then they’re asking it of children,” Kidron said.

“People are doing what they can” in Europe, the UK, Australia, Asia and the African Union, she said. But it will take buy-in from the United States to ensure children stay safe.

“The culture of tech and how it treats children is set in America,” Kidron said. “And actually, if we really, really want to protect our children, we have to hope you want to protect yours.”

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