Musical.ly - Musical.ly

This review of Musical.ly was completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 16 June 2016.

About the app

This section contains details about the app provided by an ACCM Reviewer.

ACCM review

This review of Musical.ly contains the following information:

• The level to which the game was reviewed
• App description
• Reviewers comments
• In App purchasing
• Online information
• Gambling
• Advertising and product placement
• Gender stereotypes and sexual references
• Coarse language
• Game playing behaviour which may be of concern to some parents
• Other

The level to which the game was reviewed

This app was reviewed for approximately 1 hour.

App description

Musical.ly is a video-sharing application. Although there is no central objective, users are encouraged to watch the video/song snippets posted by other individuals and to like/comment on them. They are also encouraged to film their own footage, which they can then upload to the app community also. The skills required to play the app include motor skills to utilise the central functions, as well as abilities in utilising the device camera.

Reviewers comments

When the app is first opened, the player is taken to an initial log-in screen with options to connect via Facebook, Twitter or email. In the background, there is a video playing of two teenage girls lip-syncing the lyrics to a popular song. Players are then taken to another screen, containing a second video of a girl dancing and musical lyrics stating ‘Does your mama know you dance like that?’. Along the bottom of the screen, users have the option to Search for existing and recent videos which have been uploaded by other users. These videos consist of individuals around the world lip-syncing the lyrics to songs of their choosing – the videos are generally 30 seconds in length, and contain individuals doing whatever they like whilst mouthing the lyrics of the song that is playing over the top of the video. The ages of the individuals ranges greatly, from what appears to be young children, through to teenagers and adults.

When watching the videos of another user, players are able to leave comments on those videos. It is also possible to read the comments left by other users – for example, one video posted by a young girl received comments such as ‘How old are you? I think you shouldn’t wear lipstick’, ‘how old are you im 8 want to be friends’, ‘can I have your number Isabelle’, ‘Can I have ur text number of email? Please’, etc. The content appears to be unmoderated, and may pose a risk to younger users.

The app also provides users with the option of recording their own lip-syncing videos. To do this, players first select a song snippet from a range of categories (e.g. Popular, Dance, Euro 2016, Rap/Hip Hop, Disney, etc) and they can use their device camera to actually record footage of themselves. This may then be edited with a range of visual filters, and posted online to the app’s community. Videos can also be shared to other social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Some of the song lyrics within the app contain potentially inappropriate material for younger users, including lyrics of a sexual nature.

In a similar fashion to Instagram and other social networking websites, the app also contains a search function which enables players to search for other users via username, to search for videos via tags, or to search via the songs used within the clips.

In App purchasing

No:

Online information

When the app is first opened, the player is taken to an initial log-in screen with options to connect via Facebook, Twitter or email.

The central feature of the app involves watching videos posted by other users, as well as filming oneself whilst lip-syncing song lyrics and sharing these videos online also. When watching the videos of another user, players are able to leave comments on those videos. It is also possible to read the comments left by other users – for example, one video posted by a young girl received comments such as ‘How old are you? I think you shouldn’t wear lipstick’, ‘how old are you im 8 want to be friends’, ‘can I have your number Isabelle’, ‘Can I have ur text number of email? Please’, etc. The content appears to be unmoderated, and may pose a risk to younger users

Gambling

No gambling content was found during this review.

Advertising and product placement

N/A.

Gender stereotypes and sexual references

N/A.

Coarse language

N/A.

Game playing behaviour which may be of concern to some parents

This app is not a game, it is a music video creation and sharing app. The ability to make and share videos may concern some parents.

Other

Further information on this app can be found at the Office of the Children's eSafety Commisioner

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