TikTok terror: Oblivious parents ‘giving perverts what they want’

A special investigation reveals how innocent videos and images of children are being fed to perverts on TikTok and Instagram, as police slam social media platforms.

Some of the inappropriate comments we found on innocent pictures of children.

• Online underworld: Dark side of kid content

Innocent videos and images of young children are being fed to perverts on TikTok and Instagram – as “oblivious” parents allow it to happen.

Police and cyber safety experts have slammed the social media platforms, saying their algorithms give deviants more of what they want, and warn mums and dads to wake up.

An investigation by the Sunday Mail unpacks the dangerous phenomenon of “sharenting” – parents sharing details about their kids online – and reveals just how easy it is for predators to access and trade this seemingly harmless content, without getting caught.

The Sunday Mail created a TikTok profile of a 55-year-old man who, after liking posts about children was sent a stream of similar material.

The more the man viewed and liked, the more content he received – and it became increasingly sexualised.

Cyber safety expert Susan McLean, a former Victorian police officer for 27 years specialising in cyber safety.

Cyber safety expert Susan McLean said TikTok and Instagram claimed to use mechanisms to safeguard children but “the fact is they don’t”.

“The bottom line is they’re not going to protect kids, it’s not their business model, it’s every person for themselves, and their algorithms are more sophisticated than ever before,” Ms McLean said.

“The buck has to stop with parents, but they’re away with the pixies.”

Ms McLean said parents were revealing far too much about their children on social media, as well as signing their kids up to TikTok and Instagram before the minimum age of 13 by lying about their date of birth.

“I am shocked by the oblivious level of understanding of parents, their unwillingness to learn, and the increasing danger risk they place on ever-younger children,” said Ms McLean, a former police officer who travels around Australia talking to schools.

“I’ve had parents say, ‘I don’t worry about pedophiles online, my child is smart enough to pick them’ – it’s unbelievable.”

Ms McLean said parents needed to be very careful about what they shared online and also monitor what their children posted.

“When pedophiles are arrested, they typically have “hundreds of thousands of images, all catalogued,” she said.

“Parents would be appalled, but they’re the ones playing into a pedophile’s hands by posting these images. It makes me really angry.”

She said predators, including “creepers” (people who stalk children online without contacting them), used emojis as code, alerting others to accounts of interest.

Cheese pizza is an acronym for child pornography. In many cases, pedophiles use this emoji to signal to others they are interested in sharing content. The emoji should serve as a warning sign to parents.

Other emojis used include the eggplant signals a penis, while a peach is a female bottom.

“These people operate in a grey area – there is no crime in watching (content on social media) but it is disgusting; they won’t get caught because theoretically they’re not breaking the law,” Ms McLean said.

“There are no stats on how many are out there but it’s a very large number. It happens, it’s real and if your child is put on social media, they’re at risk.”

Detective Superintendent Jayne Crossling is a senior member of the federal police domestic violence task force. Picture: David Caird

Jayne Crossling, acting commander of the Brisbane-based Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, said “it’s not OK for parents to bury their heads in the sand”.

“ACCCE receives more than 36,000 reports a year we have to triage. A huge portion are of attempts, predominantly by men, to groom a young person or sharing child exploitation material on social media,” Detective Superintendent Crossling said.

Acting eSafety commissioner Toby Dagg said “sharenting” was dangerous for many reasons.

“When you post a photo of your child online, it can end up travelling more widely than you want or realise, and may be ‘harvested’ from social media or other websites and used for criminal purposes,” Mr Dagg said.

“In the worst cases, these photos can end up on pedophile websites and forums.”

He said algorithms and recommender systems could promote and “effectively normalise” problem behaviour.

“While it’s deeply upsetting that a photo of a child playing in their backyard can be sought after by child predators, it’s a tragic reality we’re facing as a global community.”

Mr Dagg said digital photos could also contain information about the time, date and GPS coordinates.

“It’s important to find out how much information you’re sharing. Check the location settings on your device to know which apps are using geo-location and turn them off or limit the function.

“Sharing images of your children online without their knowledge or consent may also lead to problems for them down the track, ranging from embarrassment to developing a poor understanding of consent and respect themselves.”

Mr Dagg said the burden of responsibility for online safety should not solely rest on the individual.

“Technology companies should not ignore the emotional and psychological impact of online harms and their role in preventing and alleviating those impacts.”

Toby Dagg, chief investigator at eSafety, an Australian government regulatory agency committed to keeping its citizens safer online.

Jed Horner, TikTok Trust and Safety, defended the platform, saying its features and processes had been designed “with the safety of our younger community front of mind”.

“All content, including comments, must comply with our strict community guidelines, which are very specific regarding minor safety,” Mr Horner told the Sunday Mail.

“TikTok takes a zero-tolerance approach to predatory behaviour, along with other content that puts the safety of minors potentially at risk.

“We have more than 40,000 safety professionals around the world who develop and enforce our policies, and build processes and technologies to detect, remove or restrict violative content at scale.”

Mr Horner said TikTok recognised “the importance of expression for our younger users and the community they can create with their peers”.

“We also respect a parent or guardian’s right to share content, within our guidelines, relating to their children.”

Instagram head Adam Mosseri said the platform used a variety of algorithms to “personalise” a user’s experience.

Mr Mosseri said “signals” were used to predict what a person might want to see, and these included how many posts they liked and whether or not they commented.

“We add and remove signals and predictions over time, working to get better at surfacing what you’re interested in,” he said.

Mr Mosseri said Instagram had rules focused on keeping people safe.

“We always want to lean towards letting people express themselves, but when someone posts something that may jeopardise another person’s safety, we step in,” he said.

“If you post something that goes against our community guidelines and we find it, we take it down.”