LGBTQ resources: Parental control apps are outing kids to their parents & blocking them from LGBTQ resources

The study found that parental control apps block LGBTQ sites just like the Trevor Project however permit kids to search for guns and watch OnlyFans.

A recent study has found that 92% of parental control apps over-block websites, with the foremost, commonly blocked content being those associated with LGBTQ identities and sexual health.

The study, from Top10VPN, examined some of the most popular apps available on Google Play, likewise as however they handle attempted access to certain websites popular in either the U.S. or U.K.

Some apps, it found, blocked kids from accessing LGBTQ resource websites like Stonewall, the Trevor Project, and It Gets higher, deeming them “adult content.”

What’s more, the study found that almost all of the apps notify parents when their kids plan to access a blocked website, which may lead to dangerous situations in which kids are unknowingly outed to their families.

One app, Kaspersky Safekids, even blocked kids from using the search term “LGBTQ” on YouTube. Kaspersky Safekids additionally blocked searches of “homosexuality,” “safe sex,” “sexual abuse help,” “abortion,” “condom,” and “birth control pill.”

Despite blocking LGBTQ websites and search terms, some of the apps still permissible kids to access sites like OnlyFans, which really will feature adult content, and allowed for search terms like “buy gun.”

And in only 10% of Top10VPN‘s tests, the parental control apps blocked websites known for the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories.

“The over-censorship of LGBTQ+ content is a well-documented feature of private tech companies’ attempts to filter ‘safe’ content, whether this is done by parental control apps or by platforms themselves,” said Siyang Wei, Policy Coordinator at the U.K.’s LGBT Foundation.

“This not only discriminates against LGBTQ+ content, but prevents young people from accessing information, services, and communities that could be vital to their wellbeing.”

Last year, anthropologist Mary L. Gray warned that artificial intelligence can “always fail the LGBTQ community,” along with different marginalized groups. Gray said it'll forever be up to human interference to confirm AI isn't discriminatory.

“When AI whittles us down to one identity,” Gray said, “We can look at that and say no. I’m more than that.”