Why TikTok is not cute, it’s dangerous for Australian kids
There’s a bit of gyrating, lots of lip-synching and heaps of dancing. But cyber safety experts say TikTok is another reason why mobile phones should be banned in schools nationwide.
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Most of the posts on the video sharing app TikTok are pretty cute.
But that is kind of the problem.
It doesn’t take much to find videos of Australian school students posting from their classroom. They even have their own hashtag #australiaschool.
There’s a bit of gyrating, lots of lip-synching and heaps of dancing. Really, so much dancing.
The problem is that it’s not cute it’s dangerous.
That’s what cyber safety expert Susan McLean says who said the rise of school students are recording and uploading controversial TikTok videos wearing school uniform and in school hours is another reason mobile phones should be banned in schools nationwide.
“TikTok is the main issue at the moment, the schools’ lack of ability to manage it because parents are oblivious to the dangers and they let their kids do it,” she said.
“Personal use of phones in schools should not be allowed – this is what happens when you allow it.”
In Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania mobile phones are banned in all Government primary and secondary schools, in NSW they are only banned in Government primary schools and in Queensland and South Australia each school sets their own mobile phone policy.
“We support and empower principals and teachers in maintaining appropriate behaviour management at the local level, which includes ensuring that students are not distracted from their learning by personal devices,” South Australian Education Minister John Gardner said.
“We will continue to observe any benefits that arise from the NSW Primary School ban and the Victorian approach as they roll them out, and we will continue to back those school principals in SA who elect to go down this path with their schools.”
TikTok is the latest platform to capture the somewhat fickle attention of the digital natives.
A video-sharing platform, it is filling the popularity gap that Instagram has left by taking away ‘like’ counts and We Are Social’s Suzie Shaw said TikTok is by far the social platform that has shown the most rapid growth in 2019.
“In Australia, it has quickly gained over 2.9 million monthly active users, with 69 per cent of them being 13-24 years old. Australian users are spending as much as 50 minutes a day on the app and logging in seven times on average,” she said.
TikTok is the place to go where influencers rack up dollars and followers, school kids waste some time and where you quickly fall down a rabbit hole of watching people dancing in their bedrooms. And then wonder why someone singing into a hairbrush can really be so compelling.
But behind its fun facade of video sharing experts warn there is a darker undertone of bullying and predatory behaviour.
One principal recently addressed a school assembly around the “skull cracker” challenge posted on TikTok where kids are encouraged to trip an unsuspecting friend or classmate in a specific way that makes them slam against the ground.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant is so concerned about the dangerous new challenge she put out a warning about it this week.
“What makes these challenges even more dangerous is that videos of them are being live-streamed or posted on the popular TikTok app and shared elsewhere on the internet,” she said.
“The potential for brain and spinal damage is high and there are already reports of serious injuries and possibly one death overseas.”
It’s somewhat shady data collection has also raised some eyebrows and the Australian Government confirmed to News Corp it is watching closely the outcomes of overseas government security reviews into the Chinese-owned platform, concerned about the collection of data of under-age users.
Allegedly TikTok is only used by children 13 and over but most cyber safety experts and even parents know it is used with many primary school students – and often with parental permission.
The trend to post dance videos from school in free period might seem innocuous but cyber cops are unanimous in agreeing it is extremely risky in a place frequented by predators.
“It is dangerous as it identifies the student, the school, it puts all the students and the school at risk as it identifies these cute little kids are at this particularly school at any particularity time on a given day,” Ms McLean said.
“It is not that hard for a predator – hi you’re cute – and work out the school, start a conversation and convince them to meet up.”
Cyber safety expert ySafe’s Yasmin London, who tours primary and secondary schools around the country warning against TikTok, said students need to be better educated on how dangerous it is to upload videos from school grounds.
“They need to understand the amount of personal information that a video can give away in a split second – their location is given away, their name, their friends, their school the time comes up.”
Ms London said she knows kindergarten kids using TikTok and says she would have a conversation at least once a month with a parent who has discovered their child has sent an online stranger a photo or personal details.
“It is around the 11, 12, 13 year age groups that they (the predators) are starting to talk to them.
“It has to get to the point where that young person is capable of engaging in a conversation, a private conversation with somebody else where, you know, they are likely to probably have their own account, which happens a little bit a little bit older. But, you know, 11, 12, they’re saying this is happening.
“It is also around that time that girls are starting to approach puberty and might be sexualised a little bit more so that, you know, they’re posting content that is sexually suggestive …. And that might alert potential predators to someone.”
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Ms London said parents have to shake off the idea that predators are older men hiding away in a dark room, tapping on their computer.
“We need to drop that cliche and realise that predators are everywhere.
“They know how to speak, they know how to talk the talk when it comes to engaging kids.”
One video, seen by News Corp Australia, had a man asking for “some love” before he goes to prison for 15 years and BBC reported that hundreds of sexually explicit comments were found posted on videos posted by children as young as nine. While TikTok deleted the comments when reported, the BBC says most users were able to remain on the platform.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said “TikTok has replaced the shopping mall as the new congregation place for teens.
“Apps such as TikTok can be great fun, but, as with any online outlet, it also can become a platform for unsavoury behaviours like cyber-bullying, image-based abuse and grooming by paedophiles.
“Parents need to be mindful of tweens and teens using their phones and TikTok-ing in private spaces like bedrooms and bathrooms.”
Bullying is another of concern of cyber cops who say TikTok has become the go-to platforms for mean girls. As reported by News Corp Australia previously a number of incidents have been collected by Kids Helpline, including a young teen getting “hate” on social media from friends from school over a video she made on TikTok, another who was the subject of a TikTok video, made by a girl at school, saying she should “die in a hole” and another who said girls at school made two mean TikTok videos about them.
New data from the eSafetey commissioner showed that visits to the TikTok advisory page accounted for almost a third of all visits to the eSafety Guide in the period between October 2019 and March 2020. They said the TikTok cyber-bullying make up a small number of complaints with 14 per cent involving impersonation accounts which are used to post the nasty comments/ upsetting pictures, 80 per cent of complaints last year related to cyber-bullying of girls and complainants for the last year were aged between 9 and 18 with the average age of complainants 13.
One of the incidents included a 14 year old girl who became aware that someone who had bullied her at her previous school had created a TikTok account that was making mean comments, including changing song lyrics to label her as a two-faced friend. These videos had started circulating around her new school classmates and the family had reported the video to TikTok, but had not had success in getting the material removed. eSafety then spoke with TikTok and the account was removed for contravening their policies.
TikTok are clearly aware they need to do some hot shoe shuffling themselves, currently on a Big Australian recruitment push hiring top executives into communications and safety teams.
But despite that they declined to do an interview with News Corp Australia, instead asking for questions to be emailed through and asking if any other sources were being used for the story.
“We’re delighted by the positive response to TikTok in Australia. As our user community continues to surge, we are excited to build our local presence to support our growth, foster a safe and positive environment, and further the incredible creativity of the Australian TikTok community,” their statement reads.
“TikTok takes the safety and wellbeing of our community seriously and we invest in policies, settings, controls, moderation, and education on a global scale. We offer resources both online and in-app as we work to ensure that our valued TikTok community is protected, promote a safe environment, and encourage our users to exercise caution in their behaviour both online and offline.”
Well, I feel safe.
Originally published as Why TikTok is not cute, it’s dangerous for Australian kids