Safety ‘needs to be top focus’, Yubo boss says

This Gen Z social media network has landed a deal with the Kids Helpline, and its founder says other platforms should follow suit.

Social media companies need o step up more to ensure safety on their platforms, according to the co-founder and chief executive of fast-growing Gen Z social media company Yubo, which has won praise from Australia’s e-safety commissioner for its safety initiatives.

Australia is French company Yubo’s third-biggest territory, with 1.3 million young Australians using its platform, and CEO Sacha Lazimi told The Australian that safety should be the top priority for social media outfits. His company is vying to takes on the likes of Instagram and Snapchat, and its boss is confident it has a strong chance at poaching users from those platforms.

Mr Lazimi said that Yubo is dedicated to creating a safe social space for young people, and is shaking up the concept of social media being fuelled by likes or followers. His company is doing things differently, giving young users a place where they can just hang out and be themselves without any pressure to perform.

“We give young people a place to interact through video, audio and chat in real time, based on the topic of conversation and the people inside the group,” Mr Lazimi said. ”We target Generation Z because they are the most connected generation in the world, there is no difference for them between offline and online.”

Yubo has just raised a $65.2 million Series C funding round, led by existing European investors Idinvest, Iris Capital, Alven and Sweet Capital as well as new investors, including Gaia Capital Partners.

As part of the round, Jerry Murdock, co-founder of Insight Partners – investors in Twitter, Snapchat and TrueCaller – will also become an independent member of the Yubo board. The company is planning on increasing its workforce tenfold.

Safety is a big focus of the funding round, according to Mr Lazimi, who said Yubo already has age verification and real-time intervention, and will add regional helplines and moderation capacities in more than 36 languages.

In Australia, Yubo will redirect users in need to Kids Helpline, an Australian telephone and online counselling service for young people aged under 25, to provide on-the-spot support should any conversation raise safety concerns.

“I applaud Yubo for extensively reworking its safety features to make its platform safer for teens. Altering its age restrictions, improving its real identity policy, setting clear policies around inappropriate content and cyber-bullying, and giving users the ability to turn location data off demonstrates that Yubo is taking user safety seriously,“ Australian e-safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said.

Mr Lazimi added that despite a recent backlash, social media does have potential to be good for society when done properly and when trying to negate the problems of fake followers, and influencers.

“We have a strong responsibility to make sure the platform is safe, and not only safe, but that we are educating our users,” he said. ”We have very strict guidelines that are more strict than any other social network today. We go beyond simple moderation by sending real-time alerts, and educating our users so they understand what is dangerous.”