Articles

Is Your Child Old Enough To Be On Bigo Live?

Published by SchoolAdvisor | Apr 27, 2017

The Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission has been urged to probe the ‘Bigo Live’ application and to take immediate action to ban it, Bernama reported.

 

What is Bigo Live?

 

Bigo Live is a live-streaming app available globally in Google Play and Apple app stores.

According to SimilarWeb, it held the top ranking in the Singapore App Store for five days until Pokemon Go took its spot on Aug 6 2016. On the Google Play store, the app has more than 10 million downloads worldwide.

It takes a mere tap to start streaming live video. When users are streaming, they can receive rewards from other users, who buy "diamonds" to get stickers of items like flowers, a supercar or a ring to give to users they like. The diamonds (the app's currency) are bought with real money.

Each item's value will be added to the streamer's "bean" count and when they reach 6,700 beans, they can cash out the beans for money - 210 beans equal US$1 (S$1.36).

  

Users range from pre-teenagers to twenty-somethings and the broadcasts mostly feature them going about their lives, just with a camera pointed at them. Conversations go on between users and the broadcaster.

The ‘Bigo Live’ application developed by a Singaporean company had followers from Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Philippine, and account owners could generate income through the ‘gifts’ given by their followers during the live streaming.

 

What goes on in there?

In Indonesia, a girl is tidying up her room and a guy is sitting at a cafe talking to the camera. In Singapore, there’s quite a few teenage girls and boys talking about themselves and having fun with the chat. Several male streamers break out their guitars for impromptu performances.

The users’ young age lend an inherent creepiness in the core concept. Obviously, no one is forcing all those people to broadcast but the combination of overexposure-happy attitudes and transactional nature of the app makes watching those streams (and the accompanying chat messages) a little uncomfortable.

Things get a little more worrying when you discover online forums dedicated to sharing pictures of popular streamers (mostly female) with people who seem to know them or where they live or work in real life.

  

An obvious negative outcome is that users may be drawn to stream compromising videos in an effort to draw attention and earn money. A quick scan on YouTube already shows compilations of provocative videos spreading virally.

Streamers who love the attention are driven to fill their lives with drama to keep viewers hooked. To win more attention and a bigger audience, they do things they might never have done before. For viewers, it’s all about pleasing their favourite streamers in order to obtain any kind of response that would make them feel special.

 

The Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission

Senator Datuk Mustapa Kamal Mohd Yusoff deemed it ‘a social media prostitute’ and a threat to the development of young generation, especially schoolchildren.

Senator Datuk Mustapa Kamal Mohd Yusoff- Image via Free Malaysia Today

He said the ‘live streaming’ had captured more and more attention from social media users as it enabled them to have direct interaction with new friends or expand their businesses.

“What is saddening is when social media users misuse the ‘Bigo Live’ application to engage in immoral activities which can lead to more serious social problems in future," he said.

Mustapa Kamal said some ‘Bigo Live’ account owners had gone to the extent of showing off their body. “It is also worrying when their followers began posting indecent comments, demanding more and becoming addicted to the unhealthy and immoral activity,” he said.

  

While parents aspire to give their children the autonomy to play and discover new things, apps like Bigo makes it extremely difficult to do so. If you have a young family member who's on Bigo, it's time to get them off the app.