Finland is a pioneer in information technology, with many companies introducing mobile innovations and fast internet connections into mainstream culture. Finns take pride in their role in developing these technologies, which have become an integral part of Finnish culture. As a result, Finnish children are among the youngest in the world to receive their first mobile phones and access to the internet, bringing social media—and its associated risks—into their lives at a very early age.

This early access makes Finnish children particularly vulnerable to potential dangers, a concern underscored by the tragic realization that in recent years, multiple children have lost their lives while filming content and attempting deadly social media challenges.

The Lethal Trend Warning System is an algorithm-based service that identifies and alerts parents about locally emerging social challenges via WhatsApp before they become viral. Parents can sign up for free, on desktop or mobile, with just one click. No downloads or registration are required, and parents can customize the warning range by geo-fencing their homes and their children’s schools.

The innovation provides parents with unprecedented visibility into the actions of children on social media. The necessary data already existed on social media channels, and MLL leveraged it by creating an AI-driven algorithm capable of interpreting and highlighting potentially lethal trends. The algorithm scans millions of social data points per second in real time and performs numeric projections to identify harmful trends. The result is a service capable of saving lives with the help of social media data.