A scientific study showed that the live streaming platform "Twitch" - affiliated with the American technology giant Amazon - is dangerous for children, because it allows them to "interact with stranger adults and fundraising platforms, away from parental control."
The researchers said in the study, which was presented at the annual conference of the American Pediatric Association, that "a large part of teenage users of the platform (Twitch) are willing to disclose their personal information even though they do not know anything about who can access this information."
The study, which analyzed the posts of 100 teenage users streaming their content through the platform, added that this trait is very popular among computer game enthusiasts.
The researchers, who dubbed Twitch a "predator's paradise," said they found that the 100 users who offer live streams with 1.7 million followers mention their names 47 percent of airtime and locate them 50 percent of the time, while viewers can donate money to 37 percent of streamers.
The researchers added that the discussions contained personal details of 11% of the airtime, especially broadcasters who try to get closer to viewers and carefully discuss the places frequented by viewers, noting that it takes between 12 seconds and 5 minutes to find child followers in each category of games.
The team of researchers, led by Dr Ruth Melanik, said parents should "monitor all their children's interactions on this platform to ensure they are protected".
Fiona Doborsa, a visiting researcher at Cohen Children's Center, questioned the legitimacy of the template, which allows children to receive donations through the platform, which has about 35 million daily users and 7 million monthly live streamers.
"The idea that anyone can donate money to a broadcaster of any age seems to be a big manipulation," she said, noting that these methods of raising money could be abused to raise money.
It is noteworthy that "Twitch" has previously added tools that allow parents to change the protection settings related to the privacy settings of any account, as well as automated features aimed at identifying any dangerous behaviors that threaten children through the platform.
Last year, Twitch announced a campaign to remove accounts for under-13 users, after Bloomberg News reported that more than 270,<> small users could be subjected to abuse attempts by older users.