A detailed report from Kaspersky Lab’s flagship consumer solutions for Windows PCs and Macs have revealed what Nigerian children search for when they are using the internet.
This was contained in a press release distributed by APO Group on behalf of Kaspersky.
The report reveals that apart from communications sites such as the social media, messengers and email, the four sites usually visited by Nigerian children are religious, gambling, lottery and recruitment sites.
The report also reveals what kids in other parts of the world search online, based on the language and geography.
The South Africa-based organisation notes that in the last six months, Nigerian kids visited communication sites (such as social media, messengers, or emails). But the report reveals that these were the most popular pages visited on computers with parental controls switched on.
Users in Nigeria visited these sites in 93 per cent of cases over the previous 12 months, the report says; adding, however, that the percentage for this category is dropping rapidly as mobile devices continue to play a bigger role in children’s online activities.
The second most popular category of websites visited in Nigeria by these users is “software, audio, and video,” the report further reveals.
“In Nigeria, this category accounted for four percent. Websites with this content have become significantly more popular since last year, when it was only the fifth most popular category globally at six per cent.
“The top four is rounded off with electronic commerce (one per cent) and other websites (religions, recruitment, gambling, lotteries etc.) (one per cent).
The report, which presents the search results on the 10 most-popular languages used for online search in the last six months, says data shows that the video and audio category – including requests related to any video content, streaming services, video bloggers, series and movies – are the most regularly ‘googled’ by children, constituting 17 per cent of the total requests.
Interestingly, games websites incite relatively low searches, generating only nine per cent of the total search requests, the study claims.
The study also notes a clear language difference for search requests. For example, video and music websites are typically searched for in English, which can be explained by the fact that the majority of movies, TV series and musical groups have English names.
Spanish-speaking children carry out more requests for translation sites, while communication services are mostly searched for in Russian.
More than any other nationality, Chinese-speaking children look for education services; while French-speaking kids are more interested in sport and games websites, the report claims.
In turn, German-speaking requests dominate in the “shopping” category; while the leading numbers of search requests for porn are in Arabic; and for anime (animation) are in Japanese.
“Kids in different countries have different interests and online behaviors, but what links them all is their need to be protected online from potentially harmful content,” the report warns.
“Children looking for animated content could accidentally open a porn video. Or they could start searching for innocent videos and unintentionally end up on websites containing violent content, both of which could have a long-term impact on their impressionable and vulnerable minds,” says Anna Larkina, Web-content Analysis Expert at Kaspersky Lab.
Agencies Report
