For many teens around the world, livestreaming is a way for them to keep up with trends, hobbies, and interests – engaging with their favorite creators and streamers in real time, with no filter.
For many parents and guardians, that’s exactly where the problem lies – no safeguards, no controls, and no knowledge of what their children might come up against as they tune in.
Billed as a “creator-first” livestreaming platform, Kick has seen explosive growth since its launch in 2023, with many popular streamers jumping ship from the more heavily moderated Twitch. Less moderation is just one of several risk factors that parents need to know before allowing their teens to use Kick.
What is Kick?
Similar to Twitch and YouTube Live, Kick is a livestreaming service – it allows users (or “creators” to broadcast content to others in real-time. Creators can interact with their viewers through chat and other features during streams.
To differentiate against its main rival, Twitch, Kick has positioned itself as “creator first”. As well as paying streamers more, Kick has a more “hands-off” approach to content with looser moderation, and also allows creators to include gambling content – something which is banned from Twitch and similar platforms.
Kick may ring some bells for the wrong reasons, having been at the centre of several high-profile controversies. Adin Ross, one of the platform’s most popular streamers, moved to Kick in 2023 after being banned from Twitch for ” hateful conduct in chat”. Since then, he has livestreamed pornography, promoted online gambling, and hosted notorious extremist and political commentator Nick Fuentes on a stream, among other controversies.
In 2025, a man died during a broadcast on Kick, after being subjected to violence and humiliation in livestreams for months.
What can teens do on Kick?
Teens aged 13 and over (16 in the EU and 18 in the UK) can create a Kick account to livestream, watch other streamers, and interact with both creators and viewers. Note that users under 18 must have parental permission to use the platform, although this requirement appears to be easy to bypass.
Teens can livestream – or watch someone livestream – pretty much anything. “Just chatting”, gaming, and online gambling make up the majority of content on Kick, but viewers can watch streamers cook, perform music, paint, work out, and much more.
Teens might flock to Kick to watch their favorite streamers, including WestCol (4 million followers), Adin Ross (2.1 million), and Davoo Xeneize (1.8 million).
Kick: the risks parents need to know
Kick currently lacks any built-in parental controls. There is no “kid-safe mode,” or any way to disable chat features and filter content from a parent dashboard. Any child looking at the homepage or Browse tab is only one click away from seeing something they shouldn’t.
Even with Kick’s K-ID age verification system, there are ways kids can get around safeguards. Most streams can still be viewed without logging into an account, while some users may be able to “borrow” a parent’s credentials or share an account with an older sibling or friend.
Inappropriate content
Kick built its brand on being the “anti-Twitch,” proudly embracing a more hands-off approach to moderation. While the platform’s Community Guidelines “prohibit” overtly sexual content, violent content, and hate speech, among others, enforcement remains patchy and should not be relied on.
The “Looksmaxxing” influencer, Clavicular, has a huge Kick following among young teen boys. He often uses his broadcasts to promote extreme and dangerous practices to “maximize” his appearance, such as facial “bonesmashing,” steroid use, and cosmetic procedures.
Among lots of other questionable content on Kick, “Pools, Hot Tubs & Bikinis” is one of the most popular categories, where streamers chat from an inflatable pool, a hot tub, or a beach while wearing revealing swimwear.
Harmful language and hate speech
Although Kick’s Community Guidelines “prohibit” hate speech, the platform’s loose approach to moderation means that it’s not always enforced. Kick says that context is crucial in evaluating reports of hate speech, and “words that may be acceptable in some situations can take on an entirely different meaning in different contexts,” – which suggests that hateful language can be allowed in some cases.
An investigation by VoiceBox in 2024 found examples of homophobic, racist, misogynistic, and abusive comments by some of the most-watched streamers – including references to rape and suicide.
Promotion of gambling
Kick is heavily associated with online gambling, with gambling content being among the most watched on the platform. This isn’t surprising when you consider that the platform was created by the founders of the online casino website Stake.com, who started Kick just 2 months after Twitch started banning gambling videos, including those from Stake. Kick and Stake also share the same headquarters in Melbourne, Australia.
In 2025, Kick introduced new rules restricting gambling streams to sites that require 18+ age and identity verification. However, “Slots & Casino” remains one of the platform’s most popular and prominent categories.
This high visibility, combined with charismatic streamers celebrating massive wins, can easily glamorize gambling in the eyes of teens – potentially leading to addiction, financial loss, and tolls on mental health.
Contact with strangers
Kick’s lack of moderation extends to its live, in-stream chat too. Unlike Twitch, Kick doesn’t have a private messaging service (thankfully!), but bad actors can still contact minors through a stream’s public live chat, before moving to a third-party messaging app, often Discord.
Predators may blend into communities, such as gaming, and build trust with teens over shared interests, before moving to a private Discord server, where chat is concealed and unmoderated.
Strangers in chat may also offer to buy a teen a “gift subscription” or send them money on third-party apps like Discord or CashApp in exchange for private photos or personal information.
Even though kids under 18 aren’t supposed to stream without an adult present, many still do. Viewers might use the tipping system to bribe young streamers to perform specific acts, reveal where they live, or do something dangerous on camera in exchange for a donation.
Is Kick safe for teens? Qustodio’s recommendations
After testing and researching the livestreaming platform, we believe that Kick is not suitable for children and teens under 18. The platform’s lack of moderation and monitoring, along with the inclusion of gambling content, may help distinguish it from its stricter rival, Twitch, but it also makes it a much more dangerous place for kids to spend time online.
If your child or teen has a favorite streamer or somebody they enjoy watching, who has moved over to Kick, it’s a good idea to sit down and talk with them about why the platform is inappropriate for them, and see if you can find an alternative together.
Thanks to its moderation team, stricter rules on gambling, hate speech and mature content, Twitch is a better option than Kick – but YouTube Live stands as the safest option for teens who want to enjoy watching streamers, or even stream themselves.
To prevent your child from accessing Kick and other dangerous apps, you can use a dedicated parental control tool, like those offered by Qustodio.
With Qustodio, you can:
- Block Kick on your child’s devices.
- Block Kick.com on your child’s browsers.
- Pause the internet at the touch of a button, in case you need to put on the emergency brakes.
- Get alerted if your child receives a concerning message on messaging apps and social media.
No streaming service is ever 100% safe, but by engaging in regular conversation with your child, learning about their online interests, and getting support from parental control tools, you’ll work towards keeping them safe as they enjoy content online.
