Online safety (Pupils)
Tik Tok Information
Tiktok is the most downloaded app of 2019 with children and young people and most popular with under 16s. 13 is the minimum age according to their terms and conditions, and 16 is the minimum age to host a livestream. One issue is that all accounts are public by default, so anyone on the app can see what children share. However only approved followers can send them messages. You can set your account to private (which we recommend) to manage who can comment and direct message, but your profile photo, username and bio are still visible to all. Unfortunately, like most social media, children (and adults) are motivated in getting as many ‘likes’ or ‘views’ as possible, therefore this may encourage children to accept followers to increase this. Strangers can directly contact children on the app and there have been incidents across the UK of children being groomed and coerced to post sexualised content of themselves on there. This can then be screen recorded by offenders and shared with other offenders on the internet. Children can also then be blackmailed into sending more. Offenders will actively look for children on these apps.
Advice for children using the app:
Go private:
- Head into Settings > Privacy and Safety and look for the Discoverability heading at the top.
- Under that you’ll see a setting called Private Account. Toggle this on.
- TikTok recommends your page to lots of other users to improve video circulation – switch the setting off and the account will no longer be recommended to other users.
Shut out unknown people:
- In Privacy and Safety > Safety, you can prevent other users from interacting with you.
- Most of the settings are on Everyone by default, but can be changed to Friends or Off.
- You can prevent interactions on comments, Duets, Reacts, users seeing which videos you’ve liked, and also messages.
Restricted Mode ON:
- Restricted Mode tries to limit age-inappropriate content from appearing for children.
- It’s not perfect, and works through using computer-scanning systems – so some inappropriate content will inevitably be missed.
- It’s also possible to set a passcode to prevent your child from changing this setting later on.
You’ll find this in Settings > Digital Wellbeing > Screen Time Management. Internet Matters has lots of info on apps/platforms. This link is for the info they have on TikTok : https://www.internetmatters.org/?s=tik+tok
We would like to highlight a new service, Report Harmful Content, which is now available in Welsh through Welsh Government funding.
The service provides advice to anyone who has come across harmful content online as well as support to anyone over the age of 13 who has already reported harmful content to industry and would like the outcome reviewed.
Report Harmful Content specifically deals with the following eight types of online harm:
1. Online Abuse
2. Bullying or Harassment
3. Threats
4. Impersonation
5. Unwanted Sexual Advances (Not Image Based)
6. Violent Content
7. Self-Harm or Suicide Content
8. Pornographic Content
