“TikTok does not have the same safety features as some of the more well-known apps and does not routinely remove accounts that have been flagged as potentially those of a predator,” warns cyber expert Susan McLean, an internationally acclaimed expert on social media with a long and distinguished career in law enforcement. YouTube and Snapchat, and even games like Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft, have all - to some extent - been infiltrated by creepy adult users looking to groom, watch or otherwise interact with potential child victims.īut what sets TikTok apart is its troubling disregard of users’ cyber safety. That’s the sad truth of the online world we live in. Wherever children go, paedophiles and predators follow. TikTok zoomed in to fill that gap for young users desperate to gauge their social standing with peers. Its popularity has soared in recent months, fuelled partly by Instagram’s decision to conceal the number of “likes” posts attract. But it also has a direct message feature and invites live streaming and public commenting. TikTok is used by kids mainly to create and share lip-synching and dancing videos to popular music.
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What should you do if your child sees upsetting material online? Join us for this online Masterclass as we discuss how to report it, how to talk to your child about it, and, how to prevent it from happening again - click here for times & dates Experts warn that the company's casual attitude toward cyber safety poses the biggest threat of all. Problem is, kids aren't the only ones who can’t keep away.Ī recent investigation found children as young as eight were being groomed on TikTok - and young users were being bombarded by explicit messages. Today it’s all about TikTok, the Beijing-based streaming app that has upwards of 500 million active users.