CABINET ministers last night moved for the first time to tame rogue social media giant TikTok by issuing a dire warning to stop kids from seeing sick content – or be forced to.
New Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden rapped the new video-sharing app for allowing children to access disgusting content within just a few swipes – as HOAR has highlighted in our TikTok Time Bomb Campaign.
We’ve told how campaigners and disgusted parents warned the app was a “magnet for paedophiles” after HOAR revealed how kids as young as eight were being targeted by predators and bombarded with sexually explicit messages.
And mums have told of their horror of finding their daughters get groomed online – and cops are powerless to act.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden told HOAR: “Every parent worries about how to keep their kids safe online. I’m determined to make sure our laws protect them.
“But government can’t do this alone.
“Social media companies like TikTok need to step up to the plate and work with us to keep children safe.”
The Government has been warning companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google for months that they face tough action in their upcoming online harms white paper if they don’t make drastic moves to cull the abuse and horrible content being put online.
And earlier this month it was announced that the Government are set to give Ofcom the powers to regulate digital communications online – which could have the power to fine companies if they fail to act.
The video based social media app TikTok lets users create and share short videos with music and camera effects.
It’s become a hit with kids all over the world, but features massive amounts of hyper-sexualised, dangerous and pornographic content.
Its lax security and moderation has allowed it to become a haven for crime, violence and extremism too.
HOAR is campaigning to highlight the dangers of TikTok, and encourage the platform to better moderate its content.
Experts have said it is a scandal kids are able to use the app.
John Carr OBE, Former Government Adviser on Online Child Safety said: “TikTok is not a place for children. A great deal of what I saw on Tik Tok last time I looked should only be visible to adults, or at the very least youngsters who are over 16 and can prove they are.
And Amanda Naylor from Barnardo’s said: Adults are exploiting children in environments where they should be safe to explore, play and be educated. Quite simply, we need to lock those doors and gateways to stop giving abusers access to our children.
Last week, TikTok announced a new feature to allow parents to control what their kids view.
A spokesperson said:“Promoting a positive and safe app environment for our users is a top priority for TikTok.
“We use both technologies and human moderation teams to identify, review and remove dangerous or abusive content.
“We have a number of protective measures in place to reduce the opportunity for misuse and we’re constantly evolving our measures to further strengthen safety on TikTok.
“While our protections won’t catch every instance of inappropriate content, we continue to rapidly expand our content moderation teams and improve our technologies and policies so that TikTok can remain a place for positive creative expression.”
