This April, TikTok clocked 2 billion downloads globally and saw a jump of 105% from the last quarter. Many believe that it’s going to surpass Facebook and WhatsApp by the end of the year and truth be told, I won’t be surprised. However, amid this crazy rise, some people are not so swayed away by TikTok’s glitz and popularity. Particularly, parents who are not sure if TikTok is safe for their kid. The notion about TikTok is not entirely misplaced, though. There have been instances of inappropriate content on TikTok, questions on privacy, and accusations of data sharing with China. So in this article, we will go through all the major issues of TikTok to check whether TikTok is safe for your child. Apart from that, we will also discuss the various privacy and data security issues, so TikTok users have an idea of what’s happening with their data. So without further delay, let’s go through the article.
First of all, we will discuss TikTok’s content and what the company is doing to tackle the issues at hand. We have also provided some TikTok tips and tricks along the way so you can use the app safely and securely. After that, we will move to TikTok challenges and then explain Data Security and Privacy issues comprehensively. With all that said, let’s now begin and learn if TikTok is safe to use.
Before anything, we need to look into the kind of content that is published on TikTok to better understand if the platform is safe for you. I will discuss the issues pertaining to TikTok content first, and then move to what TikTok is doing to tackle these issues. The general consensus is that TikTok generates some of the most creative, inventive, and fun videos on the internet. Be it a lip-synced clip or a simple cooking hack demonstrated in 15 seconds, the videos make their way to all other social media platforms. Having said that, we can’t look away from the elephant in the room. Objectionable content has been published on TikTok in the past, and some users have reported that it continues to happen even today behind the veneer of modified hashtags. Users publish mature content with a slightly modified hashtag to easily bypass the keyword filter on TikTok.
What TikTok is Doing to Moderate the Content?
In 2019, the Federal Trade Commission fined ByteDance — the creator of TikTok– with $5.7 million over illegally collecting information on users under 13. After that, the company started making foundational changes to sanitize TikTok from objectionable content, especially for tweens. Currently, the minimum age requirement on TikTok is 13, but you will need parental consent to use the app. With Family Safety Mode, parents can authorize an account and further change the privacy settings of their child. TikTok also lets you set a passcode on the TikTok Settings page so your child can’t modify crucial privacy restrictions. In addition, parents can also limit screen time usage for TikTok from 40 minutes to 2 hours from their own smartphone.
TikTok is popular for its unique challenges that are mostly organic and fun. Most often, brands, artists, musicians, marketing companies start a challenge on TikTok to publicize their product or simply to make a point. However, there is another dimension to TikTok’s challenges which are promoted by individuals. These are mostly death-defying stunts and self-harm acts meant to garner more likes and followers. Following the trend, TikTokers are tempted to take up the challenge to outsmart everyone else. The skull-breaker challenge being the recent one on TikTok which lead to serious injuries and death. So if you are a parent then I would suggest you to counsel your children not to give heed to such dangerous challenges on TikTok.
In the Content section, we dealt with privacy and learned about the various safeguards offered by TikTok to restrict unsolicited interaction from strangers. So here, I will dive a bit on the technical side and go through some of the controversies around TikTok’s data-sharing practices. In November last year, The New York Times reported that TikTok was under the National Security review in the US. The company was accused of sharing data with China, but so far nothing concrete has come out. TikTok has reassured that all user data — be it from the US, India, or Europe — are kept in data centers located in the US and Singapore. Nevertheless, the US went ahead and barred the US Military from using TikTok due to security reasons. And now, we are hearing that the US might bring a law to ban federal workers from using TikTok.
As far as content on TikTok is concerned, there is definitely a pressing issue, especially for minors and we have underlined it in the first section. However, TikTok has also introduced a slew of measures to combat nudity, bullying, and safeguards to protect underage users from strangers. But the system is not full-proof as users can change the birth date and create a new account having all the adult privileges.
Anyway, that is all from us. If you are not satisfied with TikTok’s content moderation or you are concerned about your privacy then you can choose to permanently delete your TikTok account in six easy steps. And if you want a TikTok alternative then go through our linked article to find the best apps like TikTok.
