An Interview with Keepers: A Promising Anti-Cyberbullying App

While interviewing Hanan Lipskin about his new anti-cyberbullying app Keepers, I was most startled by the following statistic that he shared: The average 12 year old child is sending\receiving 1000 messages a day, and 1.3% of the messages are offensive.

Cyberbullying is a Generation Z type of crime — it didn’t really exist 10–15 years ago, and with the confluence of modern tech seeping into all facets of our lives, combined with younger and younger children getting their hands on this tech has allowed for a number of concerning factors. One of these factors is cyberbullying.

According to the math that Hanan shared with me, if a child receives approximately 500 messages a day, 6.5 of those messages would be offensive, and would constitute cyberbullying. Considering the huge number of messaging platforms available for kids today — whether it’s through Facebook, Snapchat, Whatsapp, Whisper, and much more, every kid is a prime target for cyberbullying through many communication avenues.

As for the effects of cyberbullying, the potential effects can be as drastic as suicide, as well as other difficult results such as depression and trauma. The great thing about Keepers’ is their initial beta testing: their app caught 2 pedophiles, and were able to prevent 2 children’s violence episodes after Keepers’ spotted the conversations in question and alerted the parents. For a beta round, this is very promising and is sure to put any parent at ease.

In the age of hi-tech and communication, and with our kids representing the future, Keepers’ could not arrive at a better time.

Here is my favorite interview question, along with Hanan’s super positive answer:

What one thing are you most excited about right now with Keepers?

We completed our iOS application development and together with our Android solution we are planning to launch our official release in 2-3 weeks‘ time.

The best thing about Keepers for me is to meet my partner Doron each morning and come to the office at MassChallenge, and meet all of the great people. Additionally, every conversation in the kitchen is an inspiring conversation.

Make sure to read the rest of Hanan’s interview here!