The famous Lagos Life simulation game has updated its access policy to allow only users who are at least 18 years old to access the platform.
This comes a few days after an FIJ story exposed how an illegal sex worker platform had gained advertising space and put up several posters for the game’s users to click and access them.
Less than 24 hours after that story was published, the Shalom Rayhamen-led game took down the ads and left the space blank. FIJ checked and found that there were no longer publications of such services to the over seven million users.
Meanwhile, some gamers took to social media to complain about the influx of users who were introducing fraudulent practices and sexual innuendos to in-game chats. Lagos Life gamers reacted to FIJ’s story, calling for sanitisation, as there were children on the platform.
About 24 hours after taking down the ads, Rayhamen announced via her official X handle, @Shalom_HeyEliy, that the game was clamping down on fraudulent practices.
READ MORE: After FIJ’s Story, Lagos Life Game Scrubs Off Illegal Pimping Website Ad
Her post reads, “Lagos Life is 18+ now. We also block usernames pretending to be the Lagos Life team and messages promising ‘free wallet credits’. The real team will NEVER DM you for money. See something shady? Report it.”
When FIJ visited the platform on Saturday, it required visitors to input their date of birth, a move that appears to keep children out of the game.
However, there have also been claims from some sections of the participating public that, as is the case with many age-restricted websites, visitors can fabricate adult statuses to bypass weak vetting infrastructure.
READ ALSO: INVESTIGATION: How Weak Law Enforcement Leaves Nigerian Children Exposed to Explicit Content Online
FIJ has earlier published an investigation detailing how Nigeria’s weak law enforcement allows children to gain access to pornographic content online.
The report found that adult websites did not have a foolproof way of shutting out children, as there was no requirement for proof of valid ID. What most platforms use, like Lagos Life now employs, is an interface that asks users to input a date of birth, and then their words are taken for it.
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