Skout, a smartphone dating app popular with Hongkongers, has shut down its version for teenagers after a series of rape allegations in the United States involving adults posing as adolescents on the network.
'Until we can design better protection, we are temporarily shutting down the under-18 community,' Christian Wiklund, founder and CEO of the US-based company, announced in a statement on its website.
In recent weeks, three men aged between 21 and 37 have been accused of sexually assaulting three boys and girls aged between 12 and 15 after posing as teenagers on Skout's forums. All three men face criminal charges, The New York Times reports.
The application, which has five to 10 million users globally, is most popular in New York and Hong Kong, Wiklund said in an interview with technology website CNET last April.
Skout lets users trade photos, instant messages and virtual gifts. Like other new networking apps - such as Highlight, Circle and About.me - it can check a user's location and connect people who are nearby.
The app was meant for adults, but a teenage version was launched for 13- to 17-year-olds after the company found they were using it anyway. That app has safeguards, including a proprietary technology which Wiklund refers to as 'the creepinator', that checks for nude photos, sexual messages, profanities and other inappropriate activity.