‘Groomed in minutes’: Warning issued over notorious app Kik
The alert comes as a Victorian man, also known as ‘evilsteve999’, is jailed after being found to possess more than 300 child abuse material files obtained via the messaging platform.
Kik, a dark corner of the internet where child abuse material and users with sinister intentions lurk have authorities warning parents that their children can be groomed “in a matter of minutes.
The instant messaging app was founded in 2010 by Canadian company Kik interactive, and shot to popularity upon its release, attracting one million users in the first 15 days.
But its reputation is one plagued with stories of child abuse material, pedophiles and minors exchanging explicit content with sometimes adult users.
The platform was destined to be shelved after its founder Ted Livingston announced Kik would shut down in October, however holding company Medialab, who also oversee brands Genius, imgur and Whisper, swept in the same month to acquire the app.
Kik has more than 300 million registered users and over 15 million monthly unique users.
The Australian Federal Police’s Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) is more than familiar with the notorious app, and have arrested offenders who have accessed illegal content on Kik.
AFP acting commander ACCCE and Human Exploitation Stephen Jay said that the centre has received referrals from the United States’ National Center for Missing & Exploited Children relating to Kik and other platforms.
“The functionality of messaging and file sharing applications means that offenders can exploit them for a wide range of illegal activity, including accessing and distributing child abuse material,” he told The Weekend Australian.
“The experience at the ACCCE is that offenders will gravitate to any platform known to be used by children.”
He said the ACCCE refers matters that require investigation to AFP members in the Joint Anti Child Exploitation Teams or Child Protection Operations teams.
Victoria Police say they have seen the app used in a range of its investigations.
“Unfortunately, younger people could be naïve to some of the risks around these sites and apps and so become a target for predatory offenders,” a police spokesperson said.
“Victoria Police is working closely with our law enforcement partners across Australia and the world to identify any emerging trends and actively target online predators.”
They said it is crucial for parents to educate their children on online safety, and, if required, have access to their devices and accounts so risky behaviour can be identified before it escalates.
“Children can be groomed in a matter of minutes – these offenders are often master manipulators – and their operations can be quite sophisticated,” the police spokesperson continued.
Just last week, a retiree was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment in the Victorian County Court after he pleaded guilty to one charge of transmitting child pornography and one charge of possession or control of child abuse material obtained using a carriage service.
Stewart Jinkins, 70, used messaging platform Kik under the alias “evilsteve999” to hunt for child abuse material from September 2018 to January 2019 and joined nine group chats, some of which named #oldmenandyunggurls, #babygirls14, #schoolgurlz and Melbourneteengay, according to a court judgement.
After joining the group chats, Jinkins would then message members privately.
In a chat with another user, the man sent the following messages.
“I want to see everything the wilder the better”
“Show me the worse you have and I will tell you if it is too much”
“Got any teen stuff”
“nice got any young g & b playing”
“have you got younger”
But police soon caught onto Jinkins’ perverted activities, after an investigation in December 2019 to target child abuse material on Kik was launched.
They pinpointed evilsteve999’s location to a home address in Dingley Village in Victoria and seized his iPhone 6S, iPhone 4 and CoolerMaster computer tower.
While Jinkins offending occurred for less than four months, police retrieved 330 child abuse material files from the computer tower’s iOS iTunes backup function.
When broken down, it was found that 200 files, including 197 images and three videos, contained content depicting a real pre-pubescent child under 13 years old, and 129 files, including 129 images and one video, contained other illegal content depicting a child under 18.
The material contained disturbing images, including an infant, toddler, pre-pubescent and pubescent females involved in sexual activity predominantly with adult males, and a few with adult females.
Some images show the children restrained and shown in a physically-degrading manner, including small cages.
The videos, which capture acts too graphic to detail, include young boys, a four-year-old girl and an 11-year old girl.
Judge James Parish said both charges involved serious offences, and noted that Jinkins believed he deleted the material.
“The offending was deliberate and premeditated. In particular, it was not isolated, impulsive or opportunistic and is inconsistent with your version of being a passive member of any chat group,” he said in his May judgement.
A report from Jinkins’ psychologist said that he missed the “social interaction of the workplace” after he retired from teaching and joined online chat groups as a social outlet.
She said the duration of the offending behaviour would not warrant a diagnosis of paedophilia.
“(You) realised the error and stopped it; it was very disturbing material. (You) thought (you) had deleted it,” she wrote in the report.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said there is an urgent need for platforms to strengthen protections against child sexual exploitation material.
“There also must be a cultural shift that prioritises the safety of children over the profits of companies,” she said.
“Platforms must take more responsibility for the safety of their users by implementing robust moderation practices and ensuring the swift removal of harmful material.
“The prevalence of child sexual exploitation material and abuse online is a significant and growing concern.”
In 2023, the eSafety Commission received five complaints relating to sexually explicit material and the promotion of crime and violence on Kik.
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