Flirting app Skout shuts down teen site to protect kids from adult predators

A mobile app that helps flirty users connect with others nearby has shut down service for minors after a third teen was allegedly raped by an adult predator using it.

Skout, a San Francisco-based company that has connected millions of users from more than 100 countries worldwide since 2007, announced the change on its blog Tuesday after a 21-year-old Wisconsin man allegedly raped a 13-year-old boy he contacted through the app. The company had already sought to protect young users by creating a separate service for 13- to 17-year-olds, but was apparently unable to keep adults from posing as kids.

“It’s become clear to us that these measures aren’t enough,” Christian Wiklund, the company’s founder and chief executive, said. “In recent weeks, we've learned of several incidents involving a few bad actors trying to take advantage of some of our younger members ... We know how much Skout means to our teen community, and, at Skout, our community means everything to us. For now, we believe that there’s only one thing we can do: until we can design better protections, we are temporarily shutting down the under-18 community.”  More

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