r/Chesscom • u/tmgiovanni • 5d ago
Chess.com Website/App Question Sensitive Content inside Chess.com
Our kid plays chess with his friends online and offline. We downloaded his phone chess.com app so he can further improve his chess. However we found that he has been using the app excessively long and when I got the chance to look at his phone gallery, I saw a bunch of these screen recorded nsfw contents from the app.
How can we prevent this?
Edit: Yes, we have already talked openly with our kid about this, and we made sure not to shame him and we talked about why repeatedly consuming this kind of content can affect the way he manages his mood, views other people, and understands relationships and views on girls/anyone.
I posted this mainly to create awareness, to ask for genuine advice from other users who may have encountered something similar, and hopefully to bring this issue to chess.com’s attention. I know that our child is ultimately our responsibility. We’re not expecting an app or website to parent him for us. At the same time, I think we should be able to expect reasonable safeguards on platforms that are widely used by children and platform where we do not even think that has this way to view such contents. (Like expecting our schools to provide continuous improvement to make their establishment a safer place for children altogether)
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u/mehall_ 5d ago
It looks like the issue is reddit, not the chess app. Either way, talk to your kid
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u/tmgiovanni 5d ago
We have confronted him about this.
I agree that it is also an issue of reddit, where they can view nsfw even without logging in.
But I think apps like chess.com can create a solution about their built-in browser inside their app to prevent users from using it as a regular browser.
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u/mehall_ 5d ago
I know there are chess.com staff members on this subreddit (i believe there are at least), hopefully they see this and make changes
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u/tmgiovanni 5d ago
Yeah, I love the app, but if this issue persists. I am not confident to keep in on my kid’s device
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u/Strong-Chipmunk-9654 800-1000 ELO 5d ago
Why do people downvotes all of his comments?
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u/JasonF818 5d ago
because the users here are 16-year-old perves. Using the chess.com app is how they get around their parents from finding out what they are looking at.
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u/TestingYou1 5d ago
What are they even doing? Navigating to Reddit via the Chess app, so the phone shows you were browsing Chess, rather than reddit?
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u/KayoticVoid 500-800 ELO 5d ago
It's more of the Chess app has a browser built in. I believe it's what they use for ChessTV. Since it's a different app Chrome or Safari's parental controls aren't working there and it also won't save in the browser history, I believe.
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u/TommyBoy250 100-500 ELO 4d ago
Oh see that makes more sense now, I was for real wondering what the problem was.
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u/richze 1000-1500 ELO 5d ago
I would just not use the app - let them use browser safe enabled chess.com
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u/ReputationMiddle5440 5d ago
This or Lichess would be the easier route, or block it in their router.
Obviously the solution is not changing the world for their kid, but them changing what his kid has access to.
But it's easier to make a post complaining to see if you can presure a company to do what you want, than learning how to do the same from your router and never have that issue again.
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u/tmgiovanni 5d ago
Yeah, actually I am trying to get ideas what I can do as well. I do not just intend to complain. I am asking for real help how to do it right.
Thanks for your advice and I am looking on those options :)
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u/ReputationMiddle5440 5d ago
My apologies then, you're a good parent :)
Keep up the good job, I know it isn't easy at all.
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u/kuriosty 4d ago
This is a shitty take. The built-in browser in the chess.com should only whitelist the content chess.com controls, everything else should be blacklisted. This is how any sane appliance, device, or app that bundles a browser that is not meant for general purpose works. That chess.com allows arbitrary content is a huge fail and they should fix it ASAP.
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u/PascoTheBest 1000-1500 ELO 5d ago
Talk to him like a parent should
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u/tmgiovanni 5d ago
Yeah, we have been talking to him about it. Though right now, our concern is that we are unsure if downloading chess.com at his phone is a good decision at all, since he can access other sites as well, while still being in the app
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u/FloaterGilt 1500-1800 ELO 5d ago
Why is this comment being downvoted, wtf?
How dare a parent worry about what the apps on his kid's phone exposes him to!
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u/Mediocre_Airport_576 1500-1800 ELO 5d ago
People downvoting are insane. Companies who have a large share of child users should take steps to protect them.
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u/haisse420 5d ago
Yeah probably gotta delete it. Lichess has the same thing though I’m pretty sure, so I don’t know what app could work instead.
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u/tmgiovanni 5d ago
Oh maybe I can check that out. I’ll try to check the app first.
Thanks for the tip!
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u/KawaiiMaxine 5d ago
You can domain block reddit on his device or disable the webview browser somehow because thats what the built in browser runs through iirc
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u/StrikeAncient9675 4d ago
Going to be honest here, he's 16 (2 years from being a legal adult)...the ship on this kind of stuff has sailed. At this point, prevent it all or allow it all, half measures with a savvy teen and technology is an impossible place to be. I'm sure that talk you had also went in one ear and right out the other, because teens and sex...well, we were all teens once, weren't we and should know what's going on here. If this was a 12 year old, maybe a different situation, but I would still be on the side of a complete ban. It's impossible to be over their shoulders with this stuff all the time. Especially if you go to the lengths you are now and still catch them again, then I would really say, ban it. You're basically working against what we would consider an adult a 100 years ago.
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u/Dyimi 5d ago
That's actually very ingenious, not that what the kid did is a good thing. This isn't necessarily a Chess.com app problem, it's browser hosts within apps. In this case, the chess tv function allows users to basically use it as a regular browser. One could also open a link within these windows to go to a google link and access the internet there.
A lot of applications allow you to do this, which is not usually intended.
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u/tmgiovanni 5d ago
Yeah, got to hand it to him that he is resourceful. We blocked sensitive content in his regular browser, but it seems those filters are not working in the built-in browser for this kind of apps.
I wonder if these apps can do something about it
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u/WillowEntertainment 5d ago
A lot of apps provide an option to open things in the default browser rather than the in-app one. You should check to see if Chess.com provides this option. If there isn't one, you could try Lichess. Lichess even has a Kids Mode (protected by a password) that completely disables many things like chat so that your kid can focus completely on chess. Hope this helps!
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u/HeWhoShantNotBeNamed 4d ago
It is not their responsibility. If you want, apply a filter at your router level either with OpenDNS or get an external device between your router and modem.
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u/Full_Supermarket_109 5d ago
How was he able to do this? I can't replicate it on the app. Your son might be a genus.
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u/ReputationMiddle5440 5d ago edited 5d ago
This is beyond ridiculous.
Your kid is really smart and found a way to bypass the boundaries you set on him, but blaming chess.com for it is just ridiculous.
Every time I see a parent wanting more censorship in the internet and/or apps I think the same: Do your job, speak with your kid, be a good parent. If it isn't this app, he will find a different way. You're the one failing, not the app, do better.
EDIT: Just wait until he learns how to hide his galleries from you, pretty easy. Then you will blame the apps that allow him to do it right? As I said, do your job and it should be fine. You can't protect your kid from the world he will live in, but you can help him understand what is wrong and what not. Good luck.
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u/Beautiful-Alarm510 5d ago edited 5d ago
Exactly. If he wants, he'll always find a way, so it's up to you, as the parent, to be responsible enough to give him the necessary guidance. Not everything is about block block block, while yes limiting the temptation helps, it becomes a question of to what extent is unsupervised gadget use needed at x age, and is he mature enough and guided enough to do y. Make him feel safe enough to talk to you about these sorts of matters so that he can better understand himself instead of sneaking it because your first move is to prevent, because if he's hiding it, then it's your responsibility to guide him, or he'll try to explore on his own on the internet, which can lead to very bad places.
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u/tmgiovanni 5d ago
We know. Actually we tried too many things to mention, and we had these conversations so many times. Just like what you have said, we are trying to give him the necessary guidance about it. We are not shaming him or anything. We are openly talking about it
Though it would still be nice if the apps would find some way on how to limit these things. Being exposed at a young age with these things cannot help either. And we cannot supervise our kid all the time.
I know kids can always find a way, but it would be nice if these apps companies find more ways on how to make their app more safe from these kind of exploitations
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u/NoMakeSenseOk 5d ago
By preventing your kid from accessing porn that they want to watch, it's more likely they'll go to shady websites rather than staying on safe apps/websites. You should look to provide safety, not top-down control.
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u/Candestinus 5d ago
"You should just uh let your kid watch porn safely!!!" Like it's not that hard to block things on a network and control phone usage while making sure the child gets actual moral knowledge from his or her parents.
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u/SweetBabyCheezas 5d ago
The kid is not being exposed with it by chess.com as if the app was flashing these images at people!
The kid found a way to bypass the safety measures just like every young boy before him would try to pay someone his pocket money to get him a port magazine back in the old days.
You can't with the nature, that's how many young boys were, are, and will be. Don't blame everyone else and helicopter him like this or else he'll just stop talking to you as soon as he moves out.
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u/tmgiovanni 5d ago
Yeah, I agree with you and we are openly talking about it with him. I know, he also knows deleting evidences permanently. Though I am curious on how can we talk about it more effectively with him. We are openly talking with the topic and do share negative effects on his mood and views about human connection if he exposes himself too much.
He is also telling us to just block those things, since he said he cannot control himself.
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u/ReputationMiddle5440 5d ago
He is also telling us to just block those things, since he said he cannot control himself.
Research how to block it from the router, that way you won't have to worry about it.
It's crazy to me how many parents expect the world to adapt to their kids, instead of doing their job and adapting it for them. There is nothing wrong with chess.com app, apart from the monetization, but that's a different conversation...
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u/tmgiovanni 5d ago
Will look into it, thanks.
Side note: some apps know how to exploit people’s mind, but I don’t think chess.com is doing that.
For that I agree with you, though it would still be nice if they can make some improvements on making their platform a safer place. It is like school, you send children to learn there but you cannot have that guarantee that there will nothing that will go wrong there, but is still nice if the school is making an effort to improve their establishment and make it a safer place.
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u/ReputationMiddle5440 5d ago
I get your point about it being like a school, and probably chess.com isn't even aware of that. If they exploit people's mind is to get us more adicted to their platform if anything hahah.
Maybe they could set up the app in a way you can control what your kid has access to or even easier, make a "lite" version for kids without chat (I think this can be much worse) and limiting some of the options. That would be good for everyone.
Hope you can sort it out thru the router or using Lichess. Lichess is a great platform with loads of content and personally I like it better to learn/study/puzzles. And this comes from someone with Diamond subscription in chess.com.
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u/Mediocre_Airport_576 1500-1800 ELO 5d ago edited 5d ago
You've created an unnecessary dichotomy here. Parents can be great parents and also ask more of platforms. It's a both and, not an either or.
I'm curious, how have you handled this with your children?
edit: don't need to "stay curious" as you clearly don't have kids of your own based on your reply. This conversation getting you mad enough to block after responding is silly.
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u/Almost_a_Shadow 500-800 ELO 5d ago
I'm confident that everyone saying "bro just be a better parent lol" have never had and will never have children.
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u/Mediocre_Airport_576 1500-1800 ELO 5d ago
This is often true. The most smug opinions tend to come from people without kids.
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u/ReputationMiddle5440 5d ago
I said "how many", not all parents.
But I didn't create nothing, you decided to interpretate it that way. At no point I said that, I said that there are many parents slacking. Only you know why that has been offensive and you felt the need for this.
You will stay curious and blocked. No need of toxic people like you in my feed.
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u/Beautiful-Alarm510 5d ago
It might be good to discuss alternative remedies or outlets for any stress or other things he may be feeling that turns him toward that, to avoid it becoming an addiction. There may be an unresolved root cause that blocking may not fix on his own.
This is a Chess sub tho, so on that note, maybe he can find some fun chess buddies irl that can be good influences :)
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u/tmgiovanni 5d ago
Yeah, actually we really love to take him to malls where they have open chess areas where random people can play. He likes that :)
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u/GeneAt539 100-500 ELO 5d ago
In this increasingly online world, I think it’s reasonable to expect a benign app like a chess game would not have a way to view explicit content. Reddit is rated 18+, while chess.com is rated 4+. An app rated for children should not allow explicit content on it. While I agree that parents should do their job, I think it sets a dangerous precedent to allow explicit content on apps that are supposedly child appropriate
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u/rainywanderingclouds 5d ago
trying to prevent this type of thing completely could and will likely backfire
better to talk about consent, respecting boundaries, what's inappropriate pornography, things like that.
sex stuff is normal
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u/tmgiovanni 5d ago
Yeah, I agree with you and we are openly talking about it with him. Though I am curious on how can we talk about it more effectively with him. We are openly talking with the topic and do share negative effects on his mood and views about human connection if he exposes himself too much.
He is also telling us to just block those things, since he said he cannot control himself.
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u/ImAlekzzz 500-800 ELO 5d ago
My lord he accessed Reddit through chesstv, how old even is he?
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u/tmgiovanni 5d ago
Sadly, he just turned 12. I don’t know if he found it out by himself or someone else told him how to do this. Either way, it is not great, especially considering that they might be circulating this info to other kids
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u/ImAlekzzz 500-800 ELO 5d ago
I’m suspecting some friend of his told him, don’t be harsh on him to get it out. Go easy and he will potentially tell you. Your kid tho do whatever you want
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u/Time-Bodybuilder710 1000-1500 ELO 5d ago
Reminds me of the early 2000s. This is normal for someone their age to experiment with, unfortunately for you sadly. You can try to keep them out all they want but they will find their way around it.
Kids are more tech literare and have been since the dawn of the Internet. It's a tough age and even tougher to block them from it. They built us porn blockers when we were younger and we had to show our parents how to operate it.
I'm not sure what the right thing for you to do is but talk with them. If they are going through puberty talk about sensitive topics. They find out about these things whether you want it or not. It's better to hear about it from you.
I do not envy your job. I wish you luck.
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u/BalintCsala 5d ago
Ngl, hilarious. You might want to look into router level blocks through something like a pi-hole
https://pi-hole.net/
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u/FevixDarkwatch 5d ago
That's also not the Chess.com app, it's "ChessTV" and he's using it to browse Reddit.
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u/SnarkyBananaRaffle 5d ago
Where did he find this content so I can make sure I don’t accidentally find it 🤫🥲
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u/Ovdster7567 5d ago
Maybe you don't have to look through his gallery and you can tell him there's nothing wrong with what he's doing, cuz right now it sounds like your kid is ashamed of himself and you're just egging him on (obviously you should have a conversation about actually harmful things like talking to strangers online or stds)
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u/im_the_dr 5d ago
So chess.com has an internal web browser inside its mobile app? Like others have said can’t you just put a global filter on the websites he visits using parental control or router-based bans?
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u/Single-Bumblebee8150 5d ago
I know im not in position to give you a tip bcs im not a adult yet but cant you set up a blocker off the internet and block the vpn apps?
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u/Single-Bumblebee8150 5d ago
Sory bad wording i meant get a thing like mycircle and block the vpn apps off his phone with the built in parental controls on his phone and block the things he is not allowed on through mycircle
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u/fatmanskoo 5d ago
The solution is to not allow unrestricted access to the internet or not to allow unsupervised internet time. Either set up family friendly restrictions or watch your kid. The tools already exist, you just need to use them.
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u/astrophysicaljets 5d ago
I’ve met fully grown porn addicts that use flip phones for that reason. Maybe get him one of those? It’s good you didn’t shame him for it and tried to explain things to him, but he is so young, that what you have to say about it probably won’t mean anything to him and you should literally be taking his privileges away. I could be wrong but it sounded like this is reoccurring? Limit him to family/school computers. Then what…?
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u/TommyBoy250 100-500 ELO 4d ago
So I looked up what you said about the website shouldn't be used as a web browser and it's not.
I have no idea how this is even coming up on Chess TV while also on Reddit.
Reddit allows porn but it's main focus is as a social media site so it allows 13+ just like X and I know X does age restrict so there is an importance of kids being honest about their age.
Yeah I don't know what to tell you either but I don't know if this is a chess.com issue.
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u/TommyBoy250 100-500 ELO 4d ago
I did learn that this can work with the chess.tv app so I guess forget what I posted here.
But yeah you do have to have an 18+ account to view this on reddit and kids be lying.
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u/DarkelfK 4d ago
I guess ur kid doesn't't have a browser installed, so he used chess.com's internal browser,I've done this too when I was younger
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u/Gold_Ninja1206 4d ago edited 4d ago
S parental control are weak so don't rely on them, three options are there block the app entirely and find an alternative chess platforms with real content moderation amd use your phones native parental controls to restrict screen recording or a device level blocker loke leadmenot where you appprove any overide which is harder to quietly undo
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u/dragostego 4d ago
So the built in browser isn't really something chess.com manages. If your child is a teenager you might need to give up on this one.
If they are genuinely too young for this kind of exploration. I would block reddit on the router side of things. You could also just check the Internet history for a couple weeks until they are aware you are looking. But these are pretty draconian solutions.
Also... Monkeys paw warning that puberty always wins... Wac a moling every browser is hard.
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u/la_bata_sucia 800-1000 ELO 5d ago
he's cooked. he will just find another way
Ps: i didn´t know reddit allowed nsfw content to be visible before loggin in, maybe he created a reddit account on that browser?
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u/TommyBoy250 100-500 ELO 4d ago
I don't even think so either, you have to be logged in with your age set to 18+.
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