Tik Tok is a fertile ground for a lot of fun and a lot of trouble as well, and it is considered the most important social networking site for teens and teens at the moment.
According to Backlinko, the total number of Tik Tok downloads has reached 3 billion, making it the most downloaded application in 2021.
According to Social Media Today, Tik Tok is set to exceed 1.5 billion active users in 2022, ahead of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube.
As kids keep pressing the download button, parents are still wondering if this app is safe for them, especially since Tik Tok is a performance-encouraging platform, and many of its users are eager to showcase their talents, and this can make it easier for human predators to use flattery as a means of access. to children's lives.
Is Tik Tok safe for children?
According to the Kid Matters Counseling website, previously all TikTok accounts were set by default to "public" regardless of the user's age, leaving the field open to your child regarding direct messages and interactions from strangers.
But with the new update for 2021, Tik Tok accounts for users between the ages of 13 and 15 are set by default to the “Private” mode.
And according to "Tik Tok", "using the private account, only those who are approved by the user as a follower can watch his videos."
Even if you set your TikTok account to private, your child may still be exposed to sexual or violent content (pixels).
suggestive content
According to Parents, even if you set your account to private you may still be vulnerable to sexual or violent content posted in the public domain "from sexually explicit to physically dangerous erotica that kids might want to recreate to racist comments." There is a wide range of disturbing content on the platform."
Due to the increase and promotion of inappropriate content, Tik Tok has been banned in many countries, including China (the country of origin), India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
What is the age limit for Tik Tok users?
The minimum age for a TikTok user is 13, and while this is good news, it should be noted that the app does not use any age verification tools when registering new users, and this means that if your child signs up for a new account without your knowledge, they will be able to access content Obscene and indecent without restrictions.
What are the parental controls in Tik Tok?
Using a feature called Family Pairing, parents can link their children's accounts to their own, as they can control direct messages, set screen time limits and turn on or off restricted content directly from their phone, and parents will also receive a notification if any of the settings or settings are changed. Turn them off from their children's phones.
Turning on the Digital Wellbeing setting is also one of the most cool functions in the app, and once turned on, this setting will set time limits for using the app, helping to adjust the time your child spends on their phone.
This setting also allows setting limits on a child's account, which results in videos flagged as inappropriate being blocked, however an important point to remember is that not all inappropriate material is properly flagged.
If your child signs up for a new account without your knowledge, they will be able to access explicit content without restrictions (Getty Images)
Does Tik Tok affect my child's mental health?
While Tik Tok is great for socializing and can provide a creative outlet for your child, it can also have some harmful effects. As with any social media platform, posting videos and photos regularly leaves your child vulnerable to negative reactions and harsh comments.
This can have a huge impact on your child's self-esteem, body image and confidence, and in some cases can lead to depression, anxiety and even eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia. Young users as well as influencers on the platform have expressed concerns about the negative comments they receive and how it affects them. on their daily lives.
According to the 2022 results from Security.org, among all social networks, children on YouTube are the most vulnerable to online harassment at 79%, followed by Snapchat with 69%, Tik Tok with 64%, and Facebook by 49%.
All social media applications collect data of their users (German)
Does Tik Tok collect child user data?
All social media apps collect their users’ data, as for Tik Tok, this is a direct quote from its privacy page in which it says “We share your data with the third-party service providers that we rely on to help provide you with the platform, and these include other IT service providers, we also share your information with our partners in business, advertisers, analytics, and search engine providers.
One thing they didn't mention is that even when you're not using the app, it collects information from your phone's memory. This means that if you or your child copy and paste sensitive information like passwords or private conversations, TikTok logs that information and stores it.
In 2020, the US government opened a national security review of a Chinese company's takeover of TikTok, according to The New York Times, and the Federal Trade Commission imposed a $5.7 million fine on the app for violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COP). COPPA.
This is the largest civil penalty in a child privacy case in history, and the law requires companies to obtain parental consent to collect the data of children under the age of 13, and Tik Tok has not done so, it has also failed to notify parents of how it collected children's data or allow them to request deletion This data.