Who Is Spying On Our Kids?

Children are more addicted to their screens than ever before. This is no coincidence. By going undercover as a gaming company, the filmmakers reveal that companies behind children’s online games are intentionally manipulating them to get addicted. An addiction which is scientifically bad for the child’s development, but nevertheless good business for the companies. The more time a child spends on a game, the more personal information will be shared. Not only in the specific game, but with a large network of companies. We gain insight into how every move the child makes is followed and discover that all the personal data is being analyzed and turned into valuable information, illegally sold by data brokers worldwide. To learn about the data ‘sharing’, the journalists did an experiment in a classroom of 10-year-olds, where each downloaded a game onto their phone. Then, the journalists revealed how much personal information was gathered through the game: the child’s personality and state of mind, the economic situation and arguments in the family, medical treatments, etc. The parents were absolutely shocked, especially since the information may well stick to the children and possibly influence their opportunities in the future. (Part 1 of 2)