17/07/2026
โ๏ธSEE AN UPDATE on this situation in the comments sectionโ๏ธ
โ๏ธAn Aussie Mum shared the below with me and wanted to warn other parents.โ๏ธ
๐จ A Warning to Every Parent: Apple Music Is More Than Just a Music App
I have deliberately removed all identifying details to protect my daughter, our family and the integrity of the ongoing investigation. My purpose in sharing this is not to identify or accuse anyone publicly, but to raise awareness for other parents about risks I never knew existed.
If sharing our familyโs experience helps protect just one child, then it is worth telling our story.
I am the type of parent who many people would describe as โstrictโ when it comes to technology.
My daughter is 13 years old. She has no social media. She cannot download apps because the App Store is disabled. She has no access to web browsers on her devices. I use extensive Screen Time restrictions, monitor her devices and genuinely believed I had removed the risks associated with online predators.
I was wrong.
What I didnโt know was that Apple Music and similarly Spotify, have social features that can be used to build relationships and communicate.
Apple Music doesnโt have any internal messaging function nor are you able to comment like Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat. Instead, communication occurs through playlist titles, playlist descriptions, usernames and collaborative playlists. Users can also upload their own images as playlist artwork.
The way of communicating this way wasnโt something I even knew existed.
My daughter became involved with someone through these features.
The person claimed to be a 15-year-old girl from America.
Over time, this person made my daughter feel safe, understood, special and heard. They built trust and formed an emotional connection.
My daughter is autistic, ADHD, experiences significant anxiety and has endured bullying. Like many vulnerable young people, she simply wanted to feel accepted, understood and like she belonged.
As that relationship developed, she shared personal information publicly through playlist descriptions on Apple Music. She uploaded personal photographs as playlist artwork and wrote openly about her life, her emotions, her struggles and things that mattered deeply to her, making her the perfect vulnerable predator bait.
Along with this person making her feel valued and accepted, this person exposed my 13-year-old daughter to highly confronting and sexually explicit written content.
When talking to my daughter following this about what had happened, I explained that sometimes the person behind an online profile may not actually be the only person using that account advising her that multiple people can have access to or use the same profile.
Without hesitation, she replied:
โOhโฆ thatโs why they sounded different every day.โ
When I asked her what she meant, she explained that she had noticed the way the person wrote to her would change. The language, tone and writing style were different from one day to the next, but she hadnโt understood why at the time.
Hearing her say that was chilling.
As a parent, discovering what had been happening has been one of the most devastating experiences of my life. From what I can gather itโs been about 2 months.
What frightened me the most was how hidden it all was.
There were no chat windows.
There were no direct messages.
There were no obvious notifications.
Instead, communication appeared to take place through playlist descriptions, playlist titles and other Apple Music social features. We also noticed abbreviations, coded language and terminology that most parents would never think to look for.
Had I not stumbled across it, I genuinely donโt know how long it would have continued.
We immediately secured her devices, removed her Apple Music profile, preserved everything we could and reported the matter to police.
We are currently waiting to be contacted by the Child Abuse Task Force for a formal interview.
I also submitted a report through the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE). My experience was that without the AFP even asking for any evidence that I said I had, I received a response advising they would not be investigating the matter and providing online resources about keeping children safe. I found that response incredibly difficult to receive because I have preserved extensive screenshots and evidence that I believe are important. I intend to continue working with police and pursue every appropriate avenue to have this matter properly investigated.
I am not sharing this for sympathy.
I am sharing it because I genuinely had no idea Apple Music or Spotify could be used this way.
I thought I had locked everything down.
I thought I had removed every risk.
I was wrong.
Please check your childrenโs accounts.
Not just Snapchat.
Not just Instagram.
Not just TikTok.
Check Apple Music. Check Spotify.
Look for:
* Public profiles.
* Followers and following lists.
* Playlist titles.
* Playlist descriptions.
* Collaborative playlists.
* Personal photographs used as playlist artwork.
Most importantly, have conversations with your children about who theyโre interacting with even on apps that appear to be โjust for music.โ
If youโre a parent reading this, please donโt make the same assumption I did.
I truly believed my daughter was protected because she didnโt have social media.
I had no idea one of the biggest risks would come through the music app I trusted.
Please share this post. If it encourages even one parent to check their childโs account and prevents another child from experiencing what my daughter has, then telling our story will have been worthwhile.
eSafety Commissioner
ABC Darwin
ABC News
The NT News
Australian Federal Police
eSafeKids
Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families
Daniel Morcombe Foundation
