TikTok Is Putting Children at Risk
By: Natalie Vinh
Tags: Influencers, Children, Technology, Tiktok App, Social Media

TikTok Is Putting Children at Risk

With 18 million users under the age of 14, age restrictions need to be raised immediately.

Photo by Aaron Weiss on Unsplash

By the end of 2021, TikTok expects to surpass 50 million users in the United States alone. While the popular platform reigns supreme among the American youth, nearly 30% of users are under the age of 18, despite TikTok’s meager attempts to set an age limit. Without any effort on the platform’s behalf to verify the ages of its creators, many young and impressionable children find themselves amongst an abundance of video content, most of which is geared towards an older audience.

Though TikTok’s Community Guidelines clearly state that no inappropriate material, such as sexual language or scenarios will be tolerated, one only has to spend a matter of time on the app before sexually suggestive content reveals itself. The worst part? Not only is this content completely accessible to minors, but some of it is also even created by minors themselves. If TikTok doesn’t instill stronger guidelines to protect minors and quickly, there’s no telling how detrimental the results may be.

The Ever-Growing Presence of Youth on Social Media

The user base for social media is getting younger and younger each year. According to an article published on BBC, around 50% of all children aged ten own or have access to a personal smartphone. As many social media platforms only require a birthdate in order to sign up, accessing content under the age of thirteen couldn’t be easier.

In order to combat inappropriate usage by minors, TikTok released parental controls that allow grownups to filter content and monitor their children’s accounts. These controls include both a screentime limit and a restricted mode, which supposedly blocks mature content. However, TikTok has proven to be busier blocking content that follows community guidelines as opposed to removing inappropriate material, making their so-called “restricted mode” virtually useless.

Additionally, the majority of inappropriate content on TikTok isn’t obvious to the technology’s filters. This often manifests in dancing trends not appropriate for minors or vulgar and sexual lyrics to popular sounds. Therefore, even when monitoring your child’s usage of the platform, it’s still very likely that they will be exposed to content geared towards older audiences.

The Problem With Influencers

Each and every social media platform comes with its own influencers — popular creators that have significant followings and often end up creating a career out of their social media presence. The most striking example is that of YouTubers, who once reigned supreme in the world of internet content.

While YouTube creators were typically in their early twenties to thirties, TikTok influencers are earning their fame at as young as 13. Most notably, Charli D’Amelio recently skyrocketed to just under 100 million followers at the age of 15. Other young creators include Addison Rae, Loren Gray, and Zoe Laverne, all of whom are under the age of twenty.

As social media influencers get younger, so do their fanbases. A 28-year old fashion vlogger typically attracts a different crowd than a 15-year old dancer on TikTok. However, there is a clear difference in maturity levels between these two. While the 28-year old influencer may have a better idea as to how to present herself as a role model, the 15-year old is still a child herself and cannot be expected to set a good example for her fans.

The problem with influencers is a topic in and of itself, yet the danger to minors on TikTok goes hand-in-hand with the rise of younger stars. TikTok stars have typically risen the ranks by participating in dance trends, often created by older users. Many of these dance trends are sexually suggestive and performed to explicit songs, such as “WAP” by Cardi B and “3 Musketeers” by ppcocaine.

While these dance trends could be considered harmless fun, performing them for an impressionable following of young users poses two problems: the sexualization of the minor performing the dance, and the audience’s desire to participate in the trend itself. Although not every dance on TikTok is inherently sexual, there are many involving suggestive gestures that should not be recreated by children.

Pedophilia on TikTok

Not only is TikTok exposing minors to inappropriate content, but it’s also a hotbed for pedophiles due to the massive amount of younger users. TikTok does have privacy settings; users can set their accounts to private and manually approve followers. However, with the rise of young TikTok influencers like D’Amelio, many users want to give themselves the best possible chance to be discovered.

A public account may attract a bigger audience, but this isn’t always desirable. In fact, there is no real security keeping convicted sex offenders and pedophiles off the platform. With the ever-growing presence of children on the app, more and more opportunities arise for these offenders to get their hands on inappropriate content concerning minors.

This argument is not new to the conversation surrounding TikTok. Plenty of articles have been posted calling out the app’s allowance of minors and pedophiles, but no real action has been taken on the side of the company. Instead, the responsibility of protecting the minor is left up to the parent, who in many situations has no knowledge of their child’s usage of the app.

The Solution

Age restriction on social media platforms is difficult to enforce, but it is incredibly important to have. Due to the nature of the content posted on TikTok, the app should consider raising its age limit from 13 to 16. Though younger minors could technically still get around this restriction, it may stop young influencers from finding success and therefore discourage children from using the app in the first place.

Secondly, parents should be spending more time monitoring their children’s social media presence. The conversation surrounding the type of content posted on TikTok needs to be louder, as many parents are unfamiliar with the app and therefore don’t see a problem in allowing their children to use it without supervision. This very lack of conversation could be putting our children in danger, without us realizing it.

Social media, while highly regarded as a way to stay connected, is one of the most dangerous places for children to be. TikTok is no exception. Otherwise, we may find ourselves creating an online world that will ultimately be our downfall.