Driven by marketing campaigns that capitalize on parent fears about school shootings and child predators, tools like Bark are part of a child surveillance industry that has grown rapidly in recent years—despite a drought of evidence that the software actually makes kids safer. Often, the tools claim to use algorithms that filter websites, flag dangerous content, and give parents and schools a virtual eye over the shoulders of kids as they use the internet.

Feathers, T. (2021, April 28). Schools use software that blocks LGBTQ+ content, but not white supremacists. Vice. https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7em39/schools-use-software-that-blocks-lgbtq-content-but-not-white-supremacists