Rated for users 12+
Offers in-app purchases
Classified as a Virtual Chat app

Over the past month, I have received several messages from parents trying to manage their frightened teens who have been using the app Mydol. The Mydol app has been around for a couple of years, but recently there has been an intense buzz of interest surrounding this app at Orange County, California schools.

Mydol is a chatbot app. It simulates chatting with your favorite k-pop (Korean pop star musician) star. A chatbot is a computer program designed to mimic a conversation with human users. Chatbots are becoming more sophisticated especially with the advent of artificial intelligence. Many businesses are using chatbot programs on their websites to answer basic technical support or customer service questions. They can sometimes be very natural in their responses, fooling people into believing they are talking to a real person.

This all sounds well and good, so why are parents asking for help? Why are so many students sincerely frightened by this app?

Many users have reported Mydol conversations can turn personal and sometimes sexually inappropriate. Ironically, the stories of creepy chats have reached boogieman status among teens and the driving desire to try the app. It is precisely these disturbing chats that are causing all the fear and concern. A casual search on google reveals numerous blog and social media posts about personal experiences of Mydol users that can best be described as disturbing. When you install and open the Mydol app, the app requests access to your camera and microphone. Theoretically, if you grant an app access to your camera, camera roll, and microphone, it can access them when you are using the app, and in some cases, even when you are not using the app. After doing some research, I was not able to find any reliable information regarding the app’s use of these phone systems to collect information about its user. One ...