A warning has been issued to parents nationwide by police today about children using the live.ly app after a serious sexual offence was committed in front of a group of English primary school children online.
The incident took place on Monday night when a number of children from a Leeds school were taking part in a group chat via social media.
It was reported that a man who was not known to them joined the chat and went on to expose himself before performing a sex act.
It has now emerged that it was not the first incident involving the live.ly video streaming platform to be reported in Britain and parents nationwide are asked to be vigilant.
Parents were urged to check whether their children had downloaded the app to their phones and ensure it was deleted.
A notice to parents explained: "Whilst the app is only supposed to access contacts on the user’s phone, it appears that quite quickly, friends of friends of friends are able to join the group chat whom your child does not know at all.
"It is therefore an unsafe app for children to use, as it risks either an incident such as happened yesterday, or opportunities for your child to be groomed online and therefore at risk of sexual exploitation."
It went on to advise parents to talk to their children about the importance of telling them if someone’s online behaviour made them scared or uncomfortable. Anyone with concerns about a specific incident should report it to local police via 101.