What is TikTok? TikTok App Review for Parents

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Overview
Overall rating: ⭐ 2.0 / 5

Recommended age: 15 and up

With over 1 billion active users, TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world today. Users flock to TikTok to create, share, and watch short videos on almost any topic imaginable. While it’s known for its viral dance and lip-sync videos, it’s also become a go-to source for trends in humor, slang, fashion, music, and more. Because of this, it has become a driving force in teen culture. But what exactly is TikTok – and is it safe? Read on to find out.

Harmful Content😲
Rating:
Technically, a child must be at least 13 years old to use TikTok, but there is no proper age verification system. While TikTok has strict community guidelines on what users can post (videos are constantly being removed), there is certainly still a lot of inappropriate content being posted every second. Since people of all ages use the app, it’s possible to come across pornographic content, profanity, drugs and alcohol, violence, and more.

Some of the things you may not want your child to see include: Discussions of sexual encounters and positions; dangerous physical challenges, stunts, and activities (the most recent being the milk crate challenge); unkempt adult humor; substance abuse in social situations; videos that barely bypass content restrictions (#sideboob); and conspiracy theories.

Predation 🚨.
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TikTok is a platform that encourages expression, and many users are happy to show off their talents. This makes it easy for predators to utilize flattery and praise as a way to enter a child’s life and make them feel special. The excitement of gaining new followers can cause children to overlook the impropriety of a situation, which can be dangerous.

The two main ways predators reach out to kids on TikTok are through private messages (DMs) and video comments. This can lead to communication on another app or via text message.

In 2020, TikTok introduced new child safety and privacy features to help avoid issues like predation, which means the company is aware of the problem. Unfortunately, kids can turn off these controls at any time.

Just in time 💙.
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For all the inappropriate content on TikTok, we can find really helpful content from thousands of creators of all ages. If you can think of a topic, you can find somewhere on the platform where passionate users share their knowledge and connect with others to form a community.

Positive examples include foster kittens and puppies finding homes; gardening experts teaching users how to grow lemon plants from seed; AP European History teachers creating skits to illustrate lesson plans; and home cooks sharing simple recipes for families on a budget.

Privacy 🔒.
Ratings:
You can make your child’s profile on TikTok private, which means that only approved friends can see the videos they make. However, since many children may want to gain followers and likes, they may make their profile public again when their parents aren’t looking.

Recently, there have been concerns about TikTok’s data collection practices. Despite rumors that it would be banned in the U.S. by 2020, nothing has happened since.

Parental Control ✅
Rating:
TikTok’s built-in parental controls, called Family Pairing Mode, allow parents to link their TikTok account to their teen’s account and set the following controls:

Screen Time Management: Choose how much time your child can spend on TikTok each day.
Restricted Mode: Disable certain topics.
Search: Decide what types of content, users, hashtags, or sounds your child can search for.
Discoverability: Set your child’s account as private or public.
Recommend account to others: Choose whether you can recommend your child’s account to others.
Private Messaging: Children may not send private messages (DMs) until they are 16 years old. For users aged 13 to 15, private messaging is automatically disabled.
Favorite Videos: Decide who can watch your child’s favorite videos.
Comments: Choose who can comment on your child’s videos.
Check out our TikTok Tech Guide for detailed instructions on parental control settings. Note: Keep in mind that kids can turn off Parental Controls at any time, but unfortunately there are many flaws with this feature.

Bark also offers help for families using TikTok. We’re always here to help keep your kids safe so you can:

Block TikTok completely if needed.
Manage the amount of time your child has access to TikTok throughout the day.
Monitor DMs (text only) on Android devices.
We are constantly advocating and working to get TikTok to allow iOS monitoring.

So, should my child download it?
Probably not until they’re about 15 years old.TikTok may be fun, but the possibility of stumbling upon highly inappropriate content (including sex and violence) trumps all the appealing dance trends. After all, isn’t TikTok a way to send videos on any subject? Keep that in mind as you consider the appropriateness.