It is an application which was unveiled to the general public on Saturday November 4, 2023. On her Tik Tok account, the influencer Ophenya, followed by nearly 5 million people, was alongside Marc Allain, the creator of Crush. Designed for meeting people and aimed at young people aged 10 to 21, it can be downloaded by anyone with a smartphone. This has the slogan “find your crush in secret” and, to register, simply create a profile with your email address. Users can take surveys about their friends and classmates. Quickly, this new application was at the heart of a controversy. OnTwitter), Internet users, including independent developer Julien Queffelec, have highlighted the many problems. First of all, there is the fact that it is possible for anyone to create a profile. Indeed, even if age is requested, no verification with official identity papers is made. The same goes for the educational establishment. Adults can therefore register and chat with teenagers of all ages.
Crush, an application that has been the subject of much controversy
In theory, this application was intended to allow teenagers to discover who their secret admirer is. In reality, any person, minor or adult, can register. Other problems also include the fact that, in order to know the identity of their suitors, users must go through the premium version, which costs 3.99 euros per week, or 16 euros per month. The video published by Ophenya quickly sparked reactions on social networks. Neila Moore, founder of a collective whose mission is to hunt sexual predators online, spoke in the columns of Parisian, Tuesday November 7, 2023. “This type of dating application that brings children and adults together leaves room for a real risk of child crime,” she lamented. Faced with the controversy, Marc Allain spoke in turn. “I never thought of the application as a dating application but as an application to fight against school bullying”, declared the creator to the newspaper. According to his words, he was “necessary to make the application sexier so that students want to go there”. The app was updated a few hours after this interview, offering more teen-friendly content.
>>> Click here to see Julien Queffelec’s publication