TikTok has become one of the most serious challenges to children's safety online, experts warn. They point to ineffective parental control, aggressive algorithms and real threats to the mental health of children.
Children out of control
More and more experts dealing with the safety of children and young people on the Internet are warning that TikTok – despite declared security measures – remains a platform over which adults are losing real control. According to sociologist Agnieszka Taper, the scale of use of applications by children below the legal age is a mass and systemic phenomenon.
According to the regulations, people over 13 years of age can have an account on TikTok. Meanwhile, as reports and research by social organizations show, approximately 1.5 million children in Poland aged 7–13 actively use this platform. – These children should not be there, and yet they are – often with the knowledge and consent of their parents – emphasized media educator and expert of the Bonum Humanum Foundation, Agnieszka Taper.
They consciously exaggerate their age
According to conversations with children during educational workshops, many young users consciously exaggerate their age when opening an account, often with the approval of their guardians. Parents trust the platform's “safety” narrative and parental control tools. These – as the report by the Kids Alert Foundation shows – in practice only allow you to limit the time you use the application, without insight into your search history, saved content or actual algorithm recommendations.
“What an adult TikTok user sees has almost nothing to do with what children see.”
The key problem remains content personalization mechanism. – What an adult TikTok user sees has almost nothing to do with what children see, Taper points out. Algorithms analyze users' reactions, viewing time, emotions and behavior, and then suggest new materials, often more and more extreme or age-inappropriate.
Research – both foreign and Polish – confirms that children reach content about self-harm, suicide, eating disorders and violence.
– Children aged 7-13 do not yet have sufficient emotional and cognitive competences to filter such messages. They often treat them as a social norm, the expert noted.
“TikTok is a tool of permanent influence”
Prof. also draws attention to the systemic nature of the threat. Mariusz Jędrzejko, who in an interview with PAP emphasized that TikTok is not a classic social media. – It is a tool of permanent influence, based on one of the most aggressive content personalization algorithms in the world. The adult receives entertainment, the child – a message tailored to his or her fears, deficits and need for acceptance. It's not communication, it's modeling behavior, he said.
Jędrzejko pointed out that TikTok's algorithms collect huge amounts of data – from behavioral patterns, through location, to reaction time and emotions of users. – Then the content is partially true, taken out of context, attractively packaged. This is disinformation in an entertaining form. And this is not a coincidence, he emphasized.
Experts point to the dramatic effects of such algorithms. In recent months, public opinion has been shocked by the suicide cases of teenagers whose social media profiles contained almost identical farewell messages, the same hashtags and background music. TikTok denies the existence of “trends”, but – according to experts – it is linguistic manipulation.
The platform responds
TikTok's press office, in a statement for PAP, informed that it does not allow content depicting, announcing or promoting suicide or self-harm, and any such material is removed immediately after detection. As reported, over 99 percent Content that violates community rules is proactively removed before it is reported by users, and the ability to search for specific phrases is blocked.
Prof. However, Jędrzejko points out that “if given content reaches mass reach and is directed to a sensitive age group, we are dealing with a real social phenomenon”. – Children are not capable of full moral reflection, and the platform washes its hands of it – Jędrzejko pointed out.
Michał Twardosz, president of the Projekt.pl Foundation and organizer of the “Uwaga Smartphone” conference, speaks in a similar tone.
– Parents very often do not see or do not want to see what is happening in their children's digital world. The law in this area is largely dead, and enforcement of platform regulations is practically non-existent, he said.
Twardosz recalled the results of research conducted in primary schools, which show that the first smartphone is now available to even three-year-olds. – Parents explain this for safety reasons or because they believe that the child will acquire digital competences faster. Meanwhile, research clearly shows that excessive screen exposure disrupts the development of mathematical and cognitive competences. This is exactly the opposite of the intended effect, he emphasized.
Experts will also pay attention to the broader cultural context: toy smartphones and tablets for babies, holders for mobile devices for potties or cars, and the normalization of constantly “turning off” a child's screen. – All this subliminally teaches us that a smartphone is a natural extension of life from the first months – noted Twardosz.
According to prof. Jędrzejko's problem is not only psychological, but also moral. – If we know that a given tool is harmful to children and we keep it anyway, it is an immoral action. There is no ideology here – there are facts and responsibility, he emphasized.
Countries introduce bans
More and more countries are deciding to introduce stricter regulations. An example is Australia, where the minimum age for a TikTok user has been raised to 16. According to PAP's interlocutors, bans alone will not be enough if they are not accompanied by broad educational campaigns addressed to parents.
– Not making a decision is also a decision – and the children will pay for it. Each month of delay means more data, more disruptions and more real damage, Jędrzejko concluded.
Experts unanimously emphasized that what is at stake is the mental health of the young generation and the long-term condition of society. In their opinion, it is a test of the maturity of the state, which should protect the weakest against the cynicism of the market and technology.
Mira Suchodolska (PAP)
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