Kick streaming app review: Safety features analysis

The Kick streaming app is a newcomer in the realm of live streaming, having been launched in 2023. Designed to be simple to use, Kick claims to be suitable for both streamers and viewers. However, is this app safe for kids to use? Kick is a newcomer to the scene of live streaming; it is a highly engaging, flexible, and fun app for all ages. At the same time, it might raise a number of safety concerns for parents due to its relatively lax security features. Since Kick is a streaming app with limited parental controls, it mixes joy with danger, prompting us to contemplate how safe it is for kids. The following review will unpack Kick’s safety features, including anything from parental controls to how relevant its content is for minors.

What is Kick streaming app？

Kick is a live-streaming platform that, like many others, allows users to broadcast live video content. The app includes all the typical features associated with such platforms—users can watch streams, communicate with their favorite streamers through chat, and participate in content created by the community. Kick seems to pride itself on the more “anything goes” nature of its content policy, and it emphasizes a model that is more beneficial for the creators, such as its no “earnings limit.”

Features of Kick Streaming App

• User-Friendly Interface. Kick offers an interface that is really easy to use and navigate, so it is convenient for new and experienced users alike.
• Monetization Options. Here are various ways to monetize your streams on Kick – through subscriptions, donations, and ads.
• Interactive Tools. The platform includes emotes, live chat, and custom stream overlays, Kick users are well-equipped to create interactive content; features like live chat, emotes, and customizable stream overlays.
• Content Variety. The service offers quite a wide selection of content with educational, lifestyle, music, and gaming streams.

Age Limiting

Kick requires users to be at least 13 years old to create an account. Though the platform requires users to be at least 13 years old to create an account, the platform’s content may not always be suitable, and there is no way to effectively verify users’ age.

What are the downsides of Kick streaming?

Though the Kick streaming app has some features that might appeal to viewers, it is impossible to ignore several key downsides of the app:

• Less stringent content moderation. The Kick policies may not be as overall inappropriate in terms of content, but it is still less safe for children when compared to platforms like Twitch.
• Inadequate parental controls. As stressed before, the parental controls offered by Kick aren’t any good when it comes to limiting screen time. Moreover, your child can easily fake their date of birth when creating an account and there is no way for Kick to verify their age.
• Risk of exposure to explicit content. Even though Kick frowns upon provocative content, it is pretty common for creators to find ways to exploit implied nudity. Your child can get exposed to mature content pretty easily on this app, and you shouldn’t let your kid watch any creator they like.
• Risks of experiencing harassment. As one might expect, the live streaming format on Kick provides plenty of opportunities for people not only to offend others online but to bully them continuously through the app.

Overall, the arguments discussed above prove that the Kick app presents substantial risks to its underage users.

Does kick streaming app have parental controls?

Parental controls are one of the foremost important features of any platform where minors might be going. Luckily, Kick didn’t completely ignore this aspect and brought forward a few features to help parents regulate their child’s behavior. Here is what you will get from Kick.

Parental Control Features

• Content Filtering: Kick allows users to filter out streams as per the content rating, though this function depends nearly completely on whether the creators tag their streams correctly.
• Blocking and Reporting: Parents can block specific users and report offending content, though these actions are not universal in their effectiveness.

Even though you might think that these features are sufficient, there aren’t any screen time limits within Kick. So, you will need to rely on some third-party tools to completely keep your child in check. Otherwise, they might get addicted to this app and you’ll be left wondering how to regulate their behavior.

Is Kick kid-friendly?

To determine whether the Kick streaming platform is kid-friendly, I considered three main factors, including content policies, community and behavior, and available safety features:

• Content Policies. The strictness of policies as well as the excessive freedom to creators makes Kick less kid-friendly when compared with other platforms. It doesn’t punish creators when they push the boundaries and use explicit content in their streams.
• Community and Behavior. The community on Kick is more toxic and it is notorious for bullying younger viewers. So, your child might get targeted by thousands of bullies when enjoying a stream on this platform.
• Safety Features. Even though Kick provides a number of basic safety features that could be used to protect younger users, the overall level of safety would be significantly lower compared to the other streaming platforms.

Considering the above, I can safely say that Kick is not the most kid-friendly streaming platform. You can’t let your child use this platform without setting up proper parental controls.

Does kick streaming allow NSFW?

Yes, Kick does allow NSFW content, but it is fully constrained when it comes to tagging and age restrictions. Sadly, these restrictions aren’t enough in most cases. Here are more details to expand your perspective.

NSFW Content Rules

• Tagging: NSFW content must be tagged as such, as the following content restrictions apply.
• Age requirements. Before you can view or publish images, the site will require you to verify that you are at least 18 years old. The verification process is weak and mainly requires you to tell the truth about your age.

Risks and Issues

NSFW content is a real point of concern for parents in the context of kid’s safety. Since the age verification is minimal, the chances of a child seeing inappropriate content are high.

Is Kick streaming app safe for kids to watch?

It is clear that the Kick streaming app is not necessarily the safest app for kids. The previous details have provided a somewhat negative view of the safety of the streaming service for young children. As explained before, the parental controls of the app are not strong. Thus, parents cannot feel responsible for their children’s online safety with the app. Next, because of the nature of weak content control features, the risk of exposure to inappropriate content is relatively high.

Similarly, online interaction and their risks are due to the live-streaming nature of the app. As a result, such controls at preventative tools such as blocking, reporting, and moderation are not necessarily strong enough or rapid to stop negative interaction. In other words, Kick streaming app is not a safe app for young children unless they are constantly supervised by responsible parents with the protective tools appropriate for such purpose.

Why is Kick controversial?

Kick’s controversy results from the combination of its loose content policies and the presence of a significant amount of NSFW content, as well as concerns regarding the information it collects. First, while this is a matter of personal perspective, the fact that Kick’s approach to content moderation is more relaxed than those of most online content platforms can be considered more of a problem than not a problem.

Second, the data it collects can be considered to be the lesser evil since it is the only way to ensure the platform’s operation. Moreover, it doesn’t collect as much data as some of the other social platforms you’ll find on the market.

Third, the controversies between content producers can also be interpreted as a problem existing only because Kick’s formats for punishing guilty parties are not as efficient as they can be. The problem that follows from the platform’s provision of revenue streams for controversial behavior is, indeed, a problem because it also creates issues for regular creators of the platform.

Kick or Twitch: which is more kid-friendly?

When evaluating which of the two platforms, Kick or Twitch, is more appropriate for kids, it is critical to consider a number of aspects. With regard to content, Twitch has more stringent policies for its streams, as well as more effectively moderates and allows users to report others for inappropriate behavior. This way, it is safer for kids in terms of exposure to explicit content.

In terms of parental control, Twitch offers more features and settings, allowing adults to manage children’s accounts better. Kick, on the other hand, is less restrictive in terms of content and only provides a limited number of content filtering options without any time management tools. Both platforms experience issues with user behavior, but in the case of Kick, where everything is more permissible, the number of negative interactions may be higher.

In conclusion, I would argue that Twitch is more kid-friendly than Kick. The main reasons for my statement are that, first, Twitch has stricter policies on content; second, it has a better system of parental controls; and, third, it is better at moderating the actions of its users.

Is Kick as strict as Twitch?

When it comes to the evaluation of the two streaming service platforms in terms of their strictness, noticeable differences could be observed in several operations. Thus, the following bullets will provide a detailed analysis of the two services.

Twitch:

• Rules and policies. Established against explicit content, hate speech, harassment, and dangerous behavior rules and policies.
• Streams control. Uses the special moderation team, which supervises the streams’ activities.
• System of punishment and engagement. Implements temporary or permanent bans, removes the content, or suspends the user.
• Policies announcement. Provides all information about the policies on its official web page.

Kick:

• Rules and policies. It does not have explicit policies, which could lead to the hosting of more controversial or mature content.
• Streams control. Due to the absence of explicit policies, this is also not very clear how the inappropriate content is controlled.
• System of punishment and engagement. Lets creators do whatever they want to, which may result in the presence of explicit or controversial content.
• Policies announcement. As specified before, there are no explicit policy announcements on its official page.

Final advice on watching Kick streaming app

Thus, considering the analysis, I would be reserved about whether your child should use the Kick streaming app. Many of the features provided by the app can make it inappropriate for children like the content and the moderation policy. If you want to permit your child to use the Kick streaming app, I would recommend taking the following measures:

• Supervision. You may monitor how your kids use the app and see the content they are watching.
• External controls. Use some tools to control your kids’ access to the app and set the time limits.
• Education. Make sure your kid is aware of all the dangers of using a streaming app and knows that they may report the content that is inappropriate.

If you prefer a third-party app that is more children-oriented and provides better parental controls, you should try FlashGet Kids. This app prides itself as a one-stop parental control solution. You will be able to easily restrict and direct your kid away from provocative content. Moreover, you won’t have to worry as much about screen time limits, as you can restrict app and mobile usage through FlashGet Kids easily.

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