If your child participates in sports or extracurricular activities, you’ve likely heard of the messaging app GroupMe. It’s also a popular way for kids to communicate with their peers from school. But is GroupMe safe for kids?
If your child is over 16, GroupMe is probably fine if you monitor their interactions. But kids, tweens, and younger teens should steer clear.
Here’s what you need to know.
What is GroupMe?
GroupMe is a messaging platform for group chats, with a discovery element that makes it feel adjacent to social media.
Users can:
Create group chats
Join established group chats within their school community
Join established chats centered around a particular interest or activity
Search for and join group chats nearby
Add emojis and GIFs
Share their location in chats
Send one-on-one direct messages
Schedule events with friends
Send money to other users
Did you know? BrightCanary monitors every app across iOS, including GroupMe chats.
Does GroupMe have age verification?
GroupMe is restricted to users over 13, but the only verification is the user-provided date of birth. GroupMe also doesn’t have any official measures to ensure that groups intended for adults or kids stay that way.
Group creators can choose to screen people before letting them into the chat, including asking for their age and requiring a profile picture, but those things are easy to fib.
What are the risks to kids from using GroupMe?
If your child uses GroupMe strictly to communicate with their IRL friends, it’s not any more dangerous than iMessage or Google Messages. But the open nature of GroupMe means things can get real dicey real quick.
Here are the risks:
Cyberbullying. Digital platforms of all kinds are prime breeding grounds for bullying because online spaces tend to embolden people to behave in ways they wouldn’t in person. Threatening or harassing group chats or direct messages and mean-spiritedly kicking someone out of a group chat are some of the ways cyberbullying can happen on GroupMe.
Privacy concerns. With the click of a button, your child can share their location with hundreds of people in a chat.
Sex solicitation. As a test, I joined several groups that appeared squeaky clean, including a Bible study group and a mall-walkers chat. Both groups were flooded with invitations to join other GroupMe chats to connect for sex. There were also messages from sex workers soliciting clients. Any GroupMe group chat where members aren’t screened is likely to be filled with this sort of thing.
Exposure to adult content. While some chats are intended for adults, kids can join by lying about their age on the screening questions (which some groups don’t even have). But it’s not just restricted groups that could expose your child to inappropriate content. In the Bible study chat, practically every other post was a nude or semi-nude user pic.
Predators. If your child joins a group with a large number of people, potentially including strangers (which can happen easily since they can be added to a group without their permission), they could be a target for child predators. A common grooming technique predators use is to gain a victim’s trust by connecting around a supposedly shared interest. GroupMe is the perfect setup for that tactic. Even teen-only groups can be risky, since predators can easily lie about their age on screening questions.
Does GroupMe have parental controls?
Not only does GroupMe not have any parental controls, but they also have zero account privacy settings. That means your child can’t limit direct messages to people they know or restrict who can add them to group chats.
How to keep your child safe on GroupMe
Discuss the risks with them. Help your child understand the dangers to watch for.
Set expectations about who they can interact with. Only people they know in real life is a good rule.
If they create a group, make sure they restrict it. That way, they can only let in people they actually know.
Show them how to block users. If someone is harassing your child or being sketchy, they should block that user from being able to direct message them or add them to groups.
Monitor their use. BrightCanary monitors everything your child types on all platforms on iOS, including GroupMe, and sends you an alert if they encounter something alarming.
Final word: Is GroupMe safe for kids?
As a messaging platform that kids can use to connect with their classmates or teammates, GroupMe is great in theory. But its lack of parental controls, no privacy options, and the ease with which strangers can contact children on the platform present too many risks.
If you do choose to let your child use GroupMe, make sure they know the risks, be clear about who they are and aren’t allowed to communicate with on the app, and monitor their use.
