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Social networking has a dark side for a younger audience.

NEW allegations of sexual predators raping and abusing minors found on social networks raise an elemental question: can any such service be made safe for kids?

This week, The New York Times reported that three under-age users of the San Francisco dating app Skout were allegedly sexually assaulted by adult men in recent weeks.

Skout added its teen-only section last year after realising that kids were using the app, the Times reported. It included additional safeguards, including parental controls, but clearly it wasn't enough. The incidents suggest a dating service for teens is tantamount to a honey pot for paedophiles, whatever the precautions.

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On Tuesday, Britain's Channel Four posted a scathing report on Habbo Hotel, a children's game site owned by Finnish company Sulake. A producer for the station posing as a young girl said users immediately tried to steer her onto webcams and urged her to strip.

More troubling, the station found that two paedophiles had been convicted for ''sexually abusing dozens of kids who they befriended'' on Habbo. One was jailed for seven years after persuading children to expose themselves on webcams in exchange for gifts. He then used those images to blackmail them into committing additional sexual acts on camera.

Predators have long used the internet to find young victims, but online safety experts say social networks and mobile apps that roughly indicate the location of users simplify the task.

''It just makes it easier for the predator to make contact, to be undetected by law enforcement and to get information,'' said Donna Rice Hughes, chief executive of Enough is Enough, which offers parents information about keeping children safe online. James Steyer, chief executive of California's Common Sense Media stressed that the lesson applies to Facebook, too. The Menlo Park social-networking giant has steadily dropped its age requirements and recently acknowledged exploring ways to make its network available to children under 13.

''They don't understand this market well enough to create an age-appropriate experience, nor can they provide the protections that teens and children need,'' Steyer said.

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Stalkers casting an evil net for children