65 harmful apps, 24 wrongly age-rated found in Singapore review of over 7,000 apps
Sexual content, violent content and content facilitating vice and organised crime were the most prevalent types of harmful and inappropriate content found.
Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) conducted a review of over 7,000 apps across five platforms, identifying 65 apps with harmful content and 24 with incorrect age ratings. The harmful apps were found on Apple App Store, Google Play Store, Huawei AppGallery, Microsoft Store, and Samsung Galaxy Store. The most common forms of harmful content were sexual, violent, and content promoting vice or organized crime.
The 65 apps containing harmful content included one with a "nudification function," a game with excessive violence, and a gambling app with real-money payouts. The 24 apps with incorrect age ratings included AI chatbots with sexualized prompts and games related to adult sexual experiences. While most age assurance methods were effective, some loopholes allowed children to bypass them, particularly on Huawei AppGallery and Microsoft Store.
IMDA emphasized the importance of accurate age ratings in protecting children from inappropriate content and the need for public education and parental supervision to ensure online safety.
Written by urgent.news from Channel News Asia's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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