Schools, parents warned as TikTok struggles to remove graphic ‘hidden’ video
Schools, parents urged to keep kids off TikTok as it battles to remove a graphic video hidden behind content aimed at children.
Teachers and parents are being warned to keep their children away from popular social media platform TikTok, after a distressing video featuring a suicide spread like wildfire on the smartphone app and was hidden in content explicitly targeting children.
The graphic video, which features gun violence, was originally live-streamed on Facebook on August 31, and from there spread quickly to other platforms including TikTok.
The clip is still spreading on TikTok more than a day after it was first streamed and children have being lured into viewing the content, which has been embedded in the middle of videos of puppies and kittens.
Australian cyber safety outfit Safe on Social sent an alert to 7,000 primary and secondary schools warning them of the video. Some schools have advised families to keep children offline if possible and “heavily supervise all social media interactions until this content is removed”.
“Check with your children to determine if they have viewed this clip,” one school wrote to families on Tuesday.
“They are likely to be extremely distressed.”
Facebook was roundly criticised last year when it allowed Brenton Tarrant to livestream the Christchurch mosque terrorist attack to its platform. Facebook had to remove 1.5 million copies of the video, and following the attacks the company said it would implement a ‘one-strike policy’ for those who ban Facebook Live rules.
The tech giant also said late last year it was bolstering its AI capabilities to better detect videos featuring first-person violence, and that it has a team of content reviewers dedicating to responding to reports.
The man in the video is reportedly Mississippi man Ronnie McNutt, and Facebook said in a statement its “thoughts remain with Ronnie‘s family and friends during this difficult time.”
A Facebook spokeswoman added the company “removed the original video from Facebook last month on the day it was streamed and have used automation technology to remove copies and uploads since that time.”
A spokeswoman from the eSafety Commissioner said the office was aware of “distressing reports” about the video circulating on social media platforms.
“We have been in contact with social media companies about the reports and will continue working with them to monitor the situation,” the spokeswoman said.
“We are encouraging people who encounter this content to report it to the social media platform they’ve seen it on, or to eSafety.”
Social media Cyber safety expert Susan McLean told News Corp that parents needed to be hyper-vigilant in ensuring their kids were prevented from viewing the content.
“There is a video on TikTok of a man live-streaming his suicide,” she told News Corp Australia. “Please ensure you do not allow your older teens on the app today, if they have it.
“Check in with your kids today. They most likely will know about it. It is also being hidden behind cat videos as well.”
It comes amid numbers from research outfit Roy Morgan which found TikTok is currently the second most popular social network for children aged 14 and under in Australia.
More than two thirds of the 1.6 million Australians using TikTok are aged under 25.
“Our systems have been automatically detecting and flagging these clips for violating our policies against content that displays, praises, glorifies, or promotes suicide,” a TikTok spokeswoman said.
“We are banning accounts that repeatedly try to upload clips, and we appreciate our community members who’ve reported content and warned others against watching, engaging, or sharing such videos on any platform out of respect for the person and their family.
“If anyone in our community is struggling with thoughts of suicide or concerned about someone who is, we encourage them to seek support, and we provide access to hotlines directly from our app and in our Safety Center.“
US President Donald Trump last month signed an executive order giving TikTok‘s Chinese parent company ByteDance 90 days to divest TikTok’s US operations. Interested buyers reportedly include Oracle, and a joint bid between Microsoft and Walmart.
The company‘s current interim CEO, Vanessa Pappas, is an Australian. Its last CEO Kevin Mayer quit after just three months in the role.
* For help with emotional difficulties, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or www.lifeline.org.au
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