Lego Life App Combats Trolls and Bullies

A new app launched by Lego contains many features that minimize the ability of users to be harassed and bullied.  Called Lego Life, the app for iOS and Android (available in App Store and Google Play) allows kids under 13 to create profiles, watch videos, participate in challenges, upload photos of their projects, search and follow their favorites, and post in message boards.

Lego Life’s concerns for the safety of its users are evident in many ways: users under 13 must have their parents provide email permission, profiles are avatars that users create from a list of traits, usernames are randomly generated from a three-word sequence (i.e. ChairmanWilyDolphin), all user-generated content is premoderated, no photos are allowed that contain human faces, and most responses are either controlled by using emojis from a special keyboard or selected from a list of phrases.  Users are allowed to use their own words when responding to official Lego content.  A version for the web is in development.

Lego Life is a win-win for both the company and its customers.  The app increases brand loyalty and keeps kids safe. When they aren’t using it, they are presumably building new Lego creations.  That’s just fine with Lego Group’s senior director Rob Lowe, who says of kids who use the app, “One of its core purposes is to put their iPhone down and go do something else.”