Message warns of mobile app ‘monkey’ with purple background

A warning is spreading on social media that warns of an app called ‘Monkey’ which, according to the warning, is a paedophile ring app.

An example of the warning as it appeared on social media can be seen below –

For anyone whos child has the app ‘monkey’ purple background with a monkey on it delete it! Its a PEADOPHILE ring app! My friends daughters phone now has to be monitored by police as she harmlessly downloaded the app with her friends and had whats believed to be a peado ringing her phone and showing himself to them! Please check your kids phones, tablets and ipads!!

The warning above describes a genuine app that we have some serious issues with (more below) however the warning above is misleading and overly alarmist, and as such we rank it mostly false.

The crux of the warning is that the ‘Monkey’ app is actually a paedophile ring, which resulted in a child who installed the app being phone called by such people. This is false. ‘Monkey’ is a mobile app that launched in November 2016 by software developers Isaiah Turner and Ben Pasternak and is one of the more popular social networking apps during 2017 and 2018, with a target demographic of teenagers and young adults.

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It is based on the premise of the more adult themed ‘Chat Routlette’ which connected random strangers in a video chat for a handful of seconds before disconnecting and reconnecting with someone else. Despite the primary claims in the warning, it isn’t run by sexual predators, nor does it give anyone your phone number. Sexually explicit content is prohibited and the developers regularly scan chats for inappropriate content.

With that said, this isn’t an app that is suitable for children, and we would agree with the advice in the warning that parents should screen their children’s devices for it (or better, install effective parental controls.) Children under 13 are prohibited from creating an account any way, though given the nature of an app that connects you to a video chat with strangers, this app isn’t really suitable for anyone under 18 years of age.

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This is simply because anyone can use the app, and can give the app false information. While the app isn’t run or created by sexual predators, it isn’t outside the realms of possibility that such people can use the app and anyone using the app can be exposed to such people.

Additionally, while the developers of the app have said to be working to prevent sexually explicit content on their platform, apps that connect you to strangers on the Internet as a vocation will inevitably run this risk. The website ProtectYoungEyes.com claimed that they had been contacted by one such parent that claimed her daughter had been exposed to explicit content, and an investigation by CNBC revealed the same risk. And this risk is also noted in their terms of service –

UNDERSTAND AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT, WHILE THE SERVICES ARE NOT PROVIDED FOR PORNOGRAPHIC PURPOSES OR FOR MAKING SEXUALLY EXPLICIT CONTENT AVAILABLE, YOU MAY BE EXPOSED TO CONTENT THAT YOU DEEM TO BE OFFENSIVE, INDECENT, OBJECTIONABLE, OR SEXUALLY EXPLICIT,

So while we don’t rank the above warning as accurate, it isn’t an app that we would recommend for anyone under 18, and as such we would strongly disagree with the apps 13+ years rating. If you are a parent reading this, ensuring your child does not use this app is recommended.