Page 24 - Blue Valley Issue 5 2020 print.pdf

SOCIAL MEDIA

TIKTOK – PARENTS BEWARE

By Nicoleen Davies,
Director, Life Talk Forum

TikTok, the latest craze, your likes and dislikes, friends, devices being OUR CHILDREN ARE GETTING HURT
is used by nearly one used, IP addresses, geolocations - you name The real danger though lies within ourselves,
it. Its exponential growth, (especially during
billion users and is more lockdown), and sheer scale is where the risk in how people are using the app.
viral than YouTube and lies. Children are being exposed to potentially
Instagram. dangerous videos in the form of challenges
This Chinese-owned app has been under where they are asked to mimic the content,
investigation in several countries in terms of and they are getting hurt! There are a few of
ikTok is a free app that allows users privacy and data security issues. There are these: The skull breaker challenge involves
to express their creativity and even reports suggesting that it is ‘Chinese purposefully tripping an unsuspecting victim
Timaginations in short video-sharing spyware’. In Korea, they were fined for so that they fall. The aim is to get them to hit
format. It started off as a simple lip-syncing mismanaging data gathered from minors. their heads on the ground. I was shown a few
app but has evolved to allow users to create The BBC reported “TikTok collected data of the videos posted and it was horrendous
and share their videos, featuring any musical of children under 14 years old without the to watch! Children fell really hard on their
genre within various video categories such consent of legal guardians... the regulator backs, some smacked their heads - the
as DIY, sport, food, comedy, dance, animals found that more than 6 000 records involving consequences can be really serious, with
– just about anything. According to TikTok, children were collected over six months, lifelong ramifications.
“It’s raw, real, and without boundaries . . . It’s violating local privacy laws.” India, its largest
from the gut, ‘come as you are’ storytelling market, has banned TikTok because of child Another is the penny challenge where
told in 15 seconds.” You can add music, or safety issues and the UK is investigating it over children drop a coin between a phone charger
no music, sound effects, filters, trim, cut, add similar concerns. The US is also considering a and a wall plug. The consequence – a fire!
emoji’s, merge - just about anything you can ban, describing it as a national security risk.
think of. The result is that TikTok influencers Companies like Amazon and Wells Fargo in Some people use TikTok as a platform to
are creating videos about everything, from the US asked employees to delete TikTok from share controversial political views and
politics through to childhood stories. their phones due to “concerns about TikTok’s sexually inappropriate content. Young
privacy and security controls and practices.”
children innocently make what are actually
IS IT SAFE? inappropriate videos of a sexual nature
As with any social media platform, TikTok This may be similar to concerns about and others sing along to songs filled with
Facebook but the real difference here is that
gathers information – content, messages, vulgar language. Recently, a ‘campaign’ was
the users are very young. launched against Donald Trump – people
22 • Issue 5 2020 • BLUE VALLEY NEWS