“Media Regulation” demanded action against the owners of the reported content

Complaints about the dangers of "Tik Tok" to children... and demands for "parental control programs"

• Applications tolerate contents that are not suitable for children.

  archival

picture

Parents complained about the dangers of applying “Tik Tok” to children, stressing that their children are imitating movements and clips displayed on the application, and spread widely, that may cause them harm.

While officials and experts confirmed to "Emirates Today", that an application such as "Tik Tok" is more lenient than the rest of the applications in providing negative content, calling on the companies that own such applications and telecommunications companies to provide parental control software for children.

With the escalation of complaints about the negative content of "Tik Tok", the Office of Media Regulation held a meeting with officials of the "Tik Tok" company, to discuss encouraging the dissemination of positive content on the platform, and ended with the need to take appropriate measures against the owners of the reported content, which reach to permanently close the account.

She emphasized that what is published on an application such as "Tik Tok" and other digital applications harms the child and pushes him to follow unacceptable behavior, as a result of the continuous "imitation" of scenes, behaviors and behaviors available to children through these programs without supervision.

A parent, Moza Abdullah Al Mazrouei, denounced the children’s tendency to imitate movements and clips that are shown and filmed on “Instagram” or “Tik Tok”, and unfortunately, it is widely spread, which can be harmful to children, and even their parents, demanding the need for parents to control In these programs, it may be better to dispense with them, because the interests of the children are in the first place.

She added: "We all know that technology is very important in our time, and it is difficult to distance our children from it, because they study through it, but the guardian must have sufficient awareness about the available programs that can be used, how to use them, and about programs that are not suitable for children. ».

A guardian, Muhammad al-Sayed, said that he is constantly surprised by the words and behaviors of his children, and when he asks about their source, the answer is: From “Tik Tok”, indicating that children do not know what they are receiving, but here parents must have a major role in following up and directing them properly, which he has already started doing in cooperation with their mother, calling on application companies to provide programs that allow parents to intensify supervision of children and follow them more.

For her part, the educational consultant and psychological and behavioral counselor, Dr. Badriya Al-Dhanhani, said that using any social network is of course risky, but it is possible for children to use the application safely under adult supervision.

She added, "The (Tik Tok) application has truly become a social epidemic and audio-visual pollution filled with a mixture of representation and artificiality that attracts children, adolescents and adults alike," stressing that the fault is not with the program, but from people who use it to a degree that causes disgust and sadness for our children on a large scale. .

She considered that the excessive use of social media, or its wrong use, causes many damages, including psychological, social and health ones, as many risks come, especially for those who do not feel family warmth or censorship, and therefore their psychological and emotional void is dropped by application and then simulation and imitation.

She explained that the optimal and logical solution lies in a sound foundation for our children, from a religious and moral point of view, pointing out that awareness plays an effective role in the evaluation process to reduce the damages of Tik Tok, which any of the state institutions can do, such as schools or universities, where these two institutions are considered a weapon. It is powerful to modify the behavior of young people and children and lead them on a good path.

In turn, a member of the Federal National Council, Dirar Al-Hol Al-Falasi, said that what we see in the development of technology is a good opportunity for human communication, information transfer, exchange of experiences and economic success based on speed, communication and achievement, so it is necessary to bear in mind that this technology is a weapon with Double edge, and we can take advantage of them to a great extent or get dragged behind the unhelpful.

He stressed that it is necessary for adults before children to understand the mechanism of work of these means and their uses, public morals and methods of communication, as for children, we must have control over them in the use of these means without limitation, because modern technology and various means of communication, may contain millions of videos, Including the beneficial and harmful, and self-censorship is very important for the individual and society, as it protects the individual and keeps him away from suspicion.

Regarding the demands that have recently escalated to close Tik Tok, Al Falasi said: “From my point of view, I do not agree with the demand to close any means of social media, as it is originally a means to facilitate communication, shorten distances and access content from all over the world, so I do not We can limit the problem to the means itself, but rather to self-censorship in the users of these means, and to enhance their national responsibility, and the sense of responsibility stemming from the pure belief that every individual in this society is part of this nation, and he has duties and rights, and the homeland has a great right over him to preserve it. His acting is the best.”

For his part, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Emirates Child Protection Association, Counselor Faisal Al-Shammari, stressed that the controls for using the Internet can be compared to a standard comparison with a license to drive vehicles. Where the age of 13 has been set to use Facebook, which does not happen in Arab countries.

Al-Shammari said: “There must be parental supervision or approval, but this does not exist for several reasons, including: the absence of communication between parents and their children, or traditional parental supervision over them, as well as the failure of the concerned authorities to require social media companies in the country to set controls in In this regard, the controls are required after the emergence and spread of negatives, not proactively, and the failure of telecommunications companies and Internet service providers to enable parents with tools and applications to control or regulate their children’s use of the Internet, as well as the absence of societal awareness and the limitations of specialized technical awareness programs and materials.

Al-Shammari stressed that the solution is not to prevent, as many have called for against certain applications, because safety procedures are installed, and therefore each person must bear his responsibility, calling for the procedures not to be based on reactions, but proactively, as happened with the communication application (BBM) from Procedures that included obligating the company to hand over encryption keys, and mechanisms for requesting the data of abusers or suspects.

He continued: "These companies will not cooperate without clear regulations, fines and penalties, and obligating them to set up quality awareness programs similar to what they launched in other countries, and block offensive content and categorize it under the law. Otherwise, they will not bother themselves with censorship, filtering, or even awareness."

For his part, an information security and social media consultant, Dr. Moataz Kokash, said: "Unfortunately, there is a difference between freedoms and (rudeness) ... The use of applications such as (Tik Tok) by some influencers has risen to the level of (absolute rudeness), as these people turned From influencers to destructors, under the guise of freedom of expression on social media.”

Kokash added: “Today we have to stand up and confront these toxins released by some on these platforms, which are completely incompatible with our societal values ​​and the family fabric,” pointing out that from a technical point of view, we find that the “Tik Tok” application is more lenient than other applications in passing Unethical content, which helped spread negative phenomena among some, and the biggest victim here are children and adolescents who make up the bulk of the application's audience.

It is noteworthy that the Executive Director of the Media Regulatory Office, Dr. Rashid Al-Nuaimi, held a meeting with the head of the international team for product policy at TikTok, Julie de Bellincourt, to discuss encouraging the dissemination of positive content on the platform, and strengthening the mechanisms for implementing media content standards in force in the country. On everything posted on social media platforms.

The two sides stressed the need to take appropriate measures against the owners of the content who are reported, which amounts to closing the account permanently, which will contribute to limiting abuses, reaching violators, and referring them to the competent authorities in the country.

Parents of:

• “Children tend to imitate movements and clips presented through the application, which harms them and their families.”

Experts:

• “The solution is not to ban, but to set penalties, awareness programs, and block offensive content.”

Negative impact on the social fabric

The founder of the “Jedara Community” initiative and the goodwill ambassador, Faraj Al-Omari, said that the “Tik Tok” application exceeded the users and tolerated them, in terms of the quality of the content, unlike the rest of the applications such as “Facebook” and “Instagram”. Unethical, and contrary to our societal values.

He explained that such content negatively affects the social fabric and the children whose use of this application has won the lion's share, calling on parents to monitor their children, spend more time with them, and explain what this application contains of inappropriate content, as demanded by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority in the country. Take immediate action to control this negative phenomenon.

Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news