Should I let my child livestream?

Livestreaming carries significant risks for children, including real-time contact with strangers, pressure to perform or share personal information, and the possibility of inappropriate comments or requests. Most safety organisations recommend that children under 13 do not livestream at all. For older teenagers, strict privacy settings and parental awareness are essential.

Can I control who watches my child's livestream?

On some platforms, you can restrict livestreams to friends or followers only. However, the real-time nature of streaming means that moderation is extremely difficult. Even on restricted streams, viewers can send harmful messages or requests. Consider whether the risks outweigh the benefits for your child's age and maturity.

What should I do if there is a problem on this app?

Use the app's in-app report and block tools first — this is usually the fastest way to remove content or restrict an account. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999. For non-emergency police matters, call 101. The NSPCC helpline (0808 800 5000) and Childline (0800 1111) are free and confidential. For a UK reporting decision tree, see /reporting and /tools/reporting-route-finder.

Livestreaming Apps — Safety Overview

A parent's guide to the risks and safety settings of popular livestreaming platforms used by children, including Twitch, TikTok Live, YouTube Live, and Instagram Live.

Livestreaming Apps is apps that let users broadcast live video to an audience in real time, with viewers watching, chatting and often sending virtual gifts.

Official age

13+

We recommend

16+

Developer

Various

Risks

Features to know about

Private messages Contact from strangers Livestreaming In-app spending

Direct messaging

In-app purchases

Live streaming

Overview

Livestreaming allows users to broadcast video in real time to an audience that can watch and interact through live chat. Platforms like Twitch, TikTok Live, YouTube Live, and Instagram Live are popular with young people. While livestreaming can be creative and social, it also presents serious safety concerns due to the real-time, unmoderated nature of the interaction.

How children use it

Children and teenagers watch livestreams of gaming, music, and creative content. Some also broadcast their own streams, sharing their gameplay, talents, or daily life with viewers. The interactive nature of live chat makes it feel more personal than pre-recorded content, which can lead to oversharing, parasocial relationships, and vulnerability to manipulation by viewers. On Twitch, users can send each other private one-to-one messages called whispers, and TikTok offers direct messages to accounts aged 16 and over.

Main risks

grooming privacy oversharing harmful content online strangers

Recommended privacy settings

Who Can Go Live

Location: Varies by platform — age restrictions apply automatically on most

Set to: Disabled for under-16s where possible

Most platforms restrict livestreaming to users over 16 or 18. Ensure your child's account has an accurate date of birth so these restrictions apply correctly.

Live Chat Moderation

Location: Varies by platform — typically in Stream or Creator settings

Set to: Enabled with keyword filters and follower-only chat

Restricts who can send messages during a livestream and filters out inappropriate language. On Twitch, use AutoMod and chat rules. On TikTok, use keyword filters.

Gifts and Donations

Location: Varies by platform — found in Monetisation or Safety settings

Set to: Disabled for children

Some platforms allow viewers to send virtual gifts or donations during livestreams. This can encourage children to perform or share personal information to receive gifts. Disable this feature for child accounts.

Parent actions

essential

Check whether your child's accounts have livestreaming enabled and disable it if they are under 16

Time: 10 minutes

essential

Discuss the risks of broadcasting personal information, location, and daily routines in real time

Time: 15 minutes

recommended

If your teenager does livestream, review their stream settings, chat moderation, and viewer list together

Time: 15 minutes

Related app guides

tiktok youtube twitch instagram

If you need to report this

In immediate danger: call 999. For non-emergency police matters, call 101.

Concerned about a child but it's not an emergency? NSPCC helpline 0808 800 5000. Childline for young people 0800 1111.

See all UK reporting pathways

Myths & facts

Myth: If my child only streams to friends or followers, it's basically the same as a private group chat.

Fact: A 'followers-only' stream is still watched by everyone who has ever followed that account, which for an active young user can be a much wider and less-known group than their actual friends. And once something is said or shown live, it can't be taken back the way a message can sometimes be deleted — anyone watching may already have recorded it before you'd know there was a problem.

Myth: Gifts and virtual currency sent during a livestream are just a fun way for viewers to show support, similar to a like or a comment.

Fact: Gifting features are usually built to encourage a streamer to keep performing for whoever is sending gifts, which can create pressure to do or say things, or reveal more about themselves, to keep the gifts coming. Some platforms also let a streamer convert gifts into real money, adding a financial incentive on top of the social one — a different mechanism from a like or a comment, designed to reward specific in-the-moment behaviour.

Myth: The main risk with livestreaming is who might be watching, so if the viewer list looks fine, the stream is fine.

Fact: Because a livestream shows real, live surroundings, background details a child wouldn't think to hide, such as a school badge, a house number, or a familiar local landmark, can let a determined viewer work out where they live or study well before the stream even ends, regardless of who is or isn't on the follower list. Checking what's visible behind the camera matters as much as checking who's watching.

Age by age

8-10
Watching or broadcasting a livestream isn't something to introduce at this age — the honest answer, if your child asks, is simply not yet. If they're drawn to the idea of performing or sharing for an audience, making pre-recorded videos together that you can review before anyone else sees them gives a similar creative outlet without a real-time audience of strangers.
11-13
Watching an established, moderated streamer's content with you nearby is a reasonable middle ground, but broadcasting their own stream isn't appropriate yet — a live chat full of unknown viewers is a lot for a child this age to read and respond to safely in real time. If they're keen to create, channel that toward recording and editing videos to post later instead.
14-16
Some teenagers in this band are ready to try broadcasting with the right guardrails in place: chat restricted to followers or filtered for keywords, gifting and donations switched off, and a clear rule about never showing identifying details of home or school on camera. Sit in on the first few streams together so the settings, not just the intention, are actually applied.
17-plus
Older teenagers streaming independently should understand, without a parent checking every time, why gifting features and open chat carry pressure and risk, and should know to end a stream immediately if a viewer's comments turn sexual, threatening, or overly focused on their location. A short, practical conversation about what to do in that moment — end the stream, keep evidence if it's safe to, report, tell someone — is more useful than ongoing supervision at this age.