as a teenager it can be hard trying to
fit in what if you like a specific video
game like Minecraft but none of your
friends like it you force yourself to
enjoy the games your friends like or do
you stick to the game you want to play
but risk being alone what if there's an
app that can help you with this problem
an app that promises a community of
like-minded people in whatever interest
you can dream of well there is it's
called Amino you know you find people
that you have a common interest with
because there's literally an amino for
anything you can think of odd Amino you
can join all kinds of communities and
make friendships with people who love
the same things as you you can chat post
stories and create quizzes about the
topics you love according to Tech news
Outlet The Verge Amino is what Reddit
would look like if it was born in the
mobile era but there's one big
difference between Reddit and amino the
average redditor is 23 years old but
Amino is heavily marketed toward teams
and anytime young people meet in a
specific place online you also invite
the worst types of people this is one of
the apps the FBI is warning parents
about it's called Amino but Amino wasn't
always a risk to its users what if I
told you that Amino was once amazing and
it started in a very interesting place
the anime convention this is Ben
Anderson the founder of amino he had a
dream he once said I want to create
something from nothing that has a
positive effect on the world Ben in his
university classmate Yin Wong went to an
anime convention together in Boston Yin
loved Anime Ben didn't but during the
convention something stood out to Ben
the anime fans it was pretty amazing for
us to see he's really passionate people
but complete strangers with one another
making friends almost immediately just
because they had the share of passion
and then the idea hit him and so we
wanted to kind of bottle up that
experience and provide it 24 7 for every
interest in the world and in 2012 Amino
was born Ben yin and their small team at
narvi Inc created the first Amino
communities in the beginning the app
needed some work for every Amino
Community you wanted to join you needed
to download its own separate app so if
you wanted to be part of the photography
Amino and the K-pop Amino you had to
download two different apps back then
the content was tightly moderated too
and users love the app according to Ben
users spent an average of 60 Minutes on
Amino every single day it was more
addictive than the most popular social
media platform at the time Facebook with
an average of 50 minutes of daily screen
time but Ben Anderson wanted to take it
a step further Amino would take all
their 250 communities and merge them
into one single app they also allowed
any user to create their own communities
using the community manager app and by
the end of 2016 Amino jumped from 250 to
250
000 different communities and this is
where things started to go wrong Ben and
his small team at narvie Inc couldn't
keep up with how large Amino has grown
so narvi Inc entrusted the amino
communities to moderate themselves and
as you YouTuber once said don't let kids
moderate kids without proper moderation
issues flooded the app and in 2021 just
when things couldn't get worse then left
Amino the visual Venture team joined
Amino to do research and the things that
we saw on this kid-friendly app were
more disturbing than we thought Bots are
taking over Amino like many websites all
you need to sign up for amino is an
email address once you're in the app
asks you to pick your interest it'll
then suggest various Amino groups called
aminos for you to join but within
minutes after signing up I was bombarded
with messages in different languages
promoting random aminos and some
messages even had links to pages that
were not appropriate for kids I've never
run into this many spam bots on any
other social media app Amino really
definitely has like a bot problem like
seen certain communities lock themselves
because they're just like we're tired of
this later we found out that you can set
a limit to who can send you a message
but by then my inbox was flooded with
nothing but bought messages and it's
clear that I'm not the only one a
redditor who goes by the name scared
delta made a post begging Amino to
remove these Bots which reminds us of
the potential harm they can bring to
young people Amino seriously get rid of
the Bots currently plaguing the app why
are there so many inappropriate Bots and
as you can see in this comments section
of this Reddit post scared Delta wasn't
alone either many other Amino users also
face a bot problem judging from how
these posts about Bots keep being made
it seems that Amino hasn't done much to
solve this problem Amino is home to
millions of kids and if this is the
experience they have to deal with on a
regular basis it's definitely a concern
but some problems on Amino aren't just
because of people using Bots as you'll
see in our next chapter one horrible
issue comes from the app itself I mean
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this video in 2020 the parental control
app mm Guardian discovered the children
in the US were using Amino for an
average of 90 minutes each day it was
the fourth most popular app in the
country among children and that's a
problem I remember when I first joined
Amino I did not expect to get addicted I
was on it when I woke up I was only when
I went to sleep I was skipping meals it
is really addicting so why is it so
addictive Amino has its own virtual
currency which users can grind for this
currency is called Amino coins people
would spend money to buy Amino coins so
they could use it to buy things like
custom messaging frames or chat Bubbles
and like many free-to-play mobile games
these items can be very expensive I
never known a social media where you can
spend almost a hundred pounds but while
you can spend money to buy Amino coins
most users choose to earn them by
watching ads and the content in these
ads is a problem in itself during my own
experience using the app I was lucky
enough not to see any ads like these
that was a good thing but when I viewed
Amino posts from my PC the ads were even
worse Amino itself is breaking their own
Community guidelines by displaying these
ads in order to protect teens Amino
prohibits them from making posts which
include appearing in underwear wearing
swimsuits indoors or dressing in overly
revealing clothing but these were
exactly the kind of ads I saw on their
website but the way Amino exploits its
users desire for amino coins doesn't
just end there Amino doesn't just show
inappropriate ads it advertises scams
like some free to play mobile games
Amino uses the advertising platform
Tapjoy which rewards users with currency
in exchange for completing tasks these
tasks range from answering survey
questions to downloading other apps in
2021 the FTC or Federal Trade Commission
revealed the tapjoyed receive customers
by failing to provide the reward it
promised the FTC received hundreds of
thousands of complaints with customers
saying that even after they shared their
sensitive information Tapjoy didn't give
out the rewards they promised instead
Tapjoy tried to stop people from
complaining by not letting them submit a
complaint within 24 hours of completing
a task so amino's user base isn't the
only source of its problems the app
itself is guilty of exploiting its young
audience to inappropriate ads and scams
but these ads are only the tip of the
iceberg because as you'll see in this
next chapter your safety is at risk do
not click this link one of our visual
Venture viewers who goes by the username
dark shared a particularly chilling
incident like many young Amino users
dark encountered horrible people on the
app however one interaction in
particular was carved into his memory to
this day this incident happened in 2022
it started off with dark changing his
profile picture while he's not sure how
his profile picture made some Amino
users upset causing them to send some
nasty messages dark changed his profile
picture again to avoid conflict but the
harassment didn't end whenever dark went
on Amino those users that sent horrible
messages followed him when he joined
public chat these users would join in
telling the people in the chat that dark
was doing horrible things these bullies
made his life on Amino miserable and it
was about to get worse dark received a
message from one of his bullies You're
Not Afraid how about I leak your IP
address dark Panic he didn't even know
if this bully had his IP address but
considering how far these bullies have
gone to hurt him the threat felt real
dark said I don't know what encouraged
that person to leak my IP and like every
kid probably would I got scared I've
done everything and hoped to forget it
but I couldn't dark's experience
encouraged our team to look further into
this type of situation we found that
some hackers were posing as Amino
employees tricking kids into clicking
Shady Lane these links are disguised as
bitly links but when you click it it
reveals your sensitive information like
your IP addresses there were even
reports of users who had their Wi-Fi
locked after clicking on one of these
links we're not sure if dark's bully was
a hacker but the fact is there are so
many young people getting their IPs
grabbed on Amino but it's not just
hackers on Amino because Amino is home
to some of the most terrible communities
on the internet the worst Amino
communities picture this you're a
teenager using Amino one day you're
bored and decided to type in an
inappropriate word in the search bar the
kind of stuff that's banned on YouTube
because you're curious if Amino actually
filters their communities thankfully
Amino didn't show you anything
inappropriate I mean after all it's a
kid-friendly app but when we did this
ourselves Amino didn't filter one thing
Gore media which is content that shows
graphic violence not only did aminos
show me extremely violent pictures and
videos but it even recommended me to
communities that promoted these images I
I clicked on one of these Amino groups I
saw pictures that I can't unsee so I
can't imagine what it's like for kids to
see this type of shocking content and I
wasn't even a member of that particular
Amino in an article reporter Louise
matsakis discovered the same things I
found she wrote I was able to find
content that violated the rules
including groups dedicated to
inappropriate content within minutes the
ease in which any curious kid can come
across this content is sickening but at
least users could report these
violations and amino would take them
down right well in the same article then
CEO Ben Anderson claimed with more than
a million communities we know that these
violations sometimes Escape our best
efforts but it's often only a matter of
hours or even minutes before these
violations are fully addressed maybe
that was the case when Ben was still at
Amino but during my research the same
communities that I discovered were still
up after a week as long as Amino
provides a platform for these dark
communities the app is not a safe place
for young people but what if I told you
that Amino wasn't just ignoring the
inappropriate content but actually
allowing kids to access this content
more easily the darkest time in amino
history Amino got its name from amino
acids just like how amino acids are
found all over the body all sorts of
communities can be found on Amino these
communities normally don't interact with
each other but during what users call
the darkest time in amino history many
communities banded together for a
specific purpose to protest an in-app
update in June of 2022 Amino came out
with a feature live streaming but here's
the catch Amino users aren't the ones
live streaming instead they're just the
audience of these live streams so who
are the streamers then kick users users
on the social media app Kik were the
ones who were live streaming for amino
users to watch kick and amino are both
social media apps owned by media lab
this update seemed to be a business move
to encourage users from kick and amino
to explore both apps but here's the
problem I mean is rated as a 12 and over
app Kick is rated 17 plus so when adults
from Kik live stream themselves to
amino's Young audience it's a recipe for
disaster oh my goodness gracious I just
want to see art are you serious why is
this a thing this is something children
should not see amino's user base was
angry these kick live streams had
nothing to do with their communities and
on top of that these live streams were
not made for kids this was the most
controversial update in amino history
but media lab didn't care according to
the terms of service for amino live you
were solely responsible for your
interactions with other users we reserve
the right to monitor disputes between
you and other users but we have no
obligation to do so Amino users had
enough using the hashtag together for
amino over 500 communities United to
protest the update they warned other
users not to update their app for their
own safety Amino protesters used every
platform available to demand and media
lab to take away the live stream feature
and it worked in October of 2022 Amino
announced that it will be removing its
live stream feature even though no
official reason was given Amino users
celebrated and one month later the live
streams were gone together for amino
brought people together as a community
to fight a common enemy but a lot of
times people are alone when they're
surfing the internet and when you're
alone you can be more vulnerable to the
dangers around you this is exactly what
happened to Emmy Emmy story kids have a
big imagination they can get lost in
their own made-up world without the
responsibilities that come from being an
adult and thanks to a wide variety of
communities on Amino it's the ideal
place for young people to be creative
including Emmy Emmy was active in role
play communities on Amino in January of
2022 Emmy would upload a 15 minute video
to YouTube sharing her thoughts about
Amino we need to talk about Amira like
many other young people on Amino Emmy
had horrible interactions with other
users in the video Emmy details her
experiences with these people I was
being targeted by a man who would use
multiple
throughout the video Emmy would show
screenshots of of the disgusting
messages you receive role-playing is
very popular on Amino but sometimes it
crosses the line kids are very
imaginative so many adults would take
advantage of this imagination these
adults take part in role playing as a
way to get their victims comfortable
with them so when Emmy realized that the
people she was interacting with were
trying to take advantage of her she did
the right thing and reported them but
unfortunately it didn't help because
Amino communities are self-moderated
Emmy was punished for bringing to light
these sick people I was banned from the
biggest role-playing community and even
after reaching out to Amino support
staff Emmy was ignored and the
harassment from her Amino Community kept
growing but Emmy didn't let that stop
her she was determined to put an end to
these adults taking advantage of kids so
Emmy worked her way up in one of her
communities to become a moderator this
way she could create a safer environment
but even in a position of power Emmy
still couldn't do anything about the
disgusting people in the community she
kept speaking out about these issues
that were actually illegal and the
moderators didn't like that so they
kicked her out this is one small
instance of a girl who wanted to stop
Fred the story is far more common than
you think these issues are deeply rooted
in the culture of amino and it's clear
in our next story I thought Amino was a
safe place our Story begins with a girl
named kala kala is a fan of the game
gotcha life which is a popular
role-playing mobile game where you can
create anime style characters kala went
on Amino to look for a gotcha Life
Community who share her love for the
game on Amino kala discovered that
different aminos have different levels
of privacy some aminos he could join
right away but others required approval
but one gotcha life Amino had a very
specific request before they approved
her kala received the DM from Mandy who
claims to work at Amino in the DM Mandy
told kala that their Community was a
safe place for young girls and in order
to maintain that kala had to verify her
age and her gender so Mandy asked kala
to send a compromising photo of herself
if kala refused she was told she'd be
permanently banned kala immediately
showed this message to her mom and her
mom was horrified this is how Carla's
mom described it I was scared I felt as
if they had intruded into our home
although it's probably someone thousands
of miles away it really felt like an
intrusion into our privacy thanks to
Carla's smart thinking this incident
caught the attention of the media the
authorities are currently looking into
this case so hopefully one day Mandy
will get caught even though kala's story
ended well we wanted to know if aminos
with this kind of verification still
exist on the app during her research we
came across some aminos that require
photo verification to join for example
in this kid's only Amino you have to
verify by sending a picture of yourself
with random letters when you enter I
know it's not as bad as Mandy's message
but it's still creepy I understand why
people go on Amino I mean we all want to
feel a sense of belonging right a lot of
young people don't feel comfortable at
home or at school and because of that we
turn to apps like Amino to find find the
place where we belong I personally
struggled with fitting in my whole life
I was always trying to fit the mold of
other people I looked up to but always
falling short I thought I would never
find my place but then I realized if you
feel like you don't fit into this world
it's because you're here to create a
better one visual Venture wait before
you go click this playlist right here to
watch more dark internet documentaries
because our goal is 500 000 subscribers
by the end of 2023. thank you guys for
being part of this channel I love you
guys peace