Over lock down, the app Tik Tok released a new update that would change the way users under the age of 16 messaged on the app. When finding out about the new update we wanted to find out the reason for creating the new restriction.
To answer our questions, we decided to research the reason for this sudden new change in the app.
Our initial search results came up and stated that the reason for the change was to protect the safety of children on the app. In February, Tik Tok released an update stating that parents could control what videos came up on their for you page and could set limits for their children.
On April 30th, Tik Tok added new age restrictions for direct messaging for people up to the age of 16. They decided to do this while Covid-19 was out there, and people were at home a lot more, because offenders were taking advantage of the number of children online, and how long they were spending on it.
As we continued our research, we wondered what students at our school thought about the new change and if it had affected them in any way or if they had any idea why the sudden change. So, we sent out a survey to students with questions about the new update.
We first asked how old the people were who answered our survey:
21% were 11 – 12.
42% were 13 – 14.
19% were 15 – 16.
19% were 17 – 18.
When we asked how many people used the app:
69% answered yes
31% answered no
Next we asked what their opinion was about Tik Tok adding the new restrictions:
- Majority answered that it is a good idea and would stop children from seeing explicit content being sent to them by offenders.
- Some people thought the idea of this new restriction was unnecessary and an inconvenience to them using the app.
- Others said that it is a good idea but they should lower the restrictions to 14.
Next we asked why they thought that Tik Tok added these restrictions.
Many people answered that they thought it was made to keep predators and offenders from messaging minors and stopping younger teens and children from seeing inappropriate things.
We then asked if the limit was a good idea to have been added during the lock down:
58% of people said yes it was a good idea.
42% of those people said no it wasn’t a good idea.
We asked people after that question why or why not it was a good idea: Majority of people said that the reason was because of minors being taken advantage of and for their safety.
Whereas others believed that the new update was unnecessary and didn’t make much sense.
The answers were pretty even when we asked if they thought that these restrictions would decrease the amount of bullying and predators online.
58% answered yes
42% answered no
We then asked if they were or are under the age of 16, would they fake their age. 26% answered yes, 43% answered no, and 31% answered maybe.
The restrictions are based on the date of birth added to the account when it is created, but it is entirely based on trust. Many people could easily fake their age, but this would come with consequences. Other people online would think that they are over the age of 16 if they can message them. So younger people who fake their age would have a much higher risk of being sent inappropriate messages and pictures by not only predators, but other people over 16.
When we questioned whether this had affected them in anyway, very few answered that it had affected them.
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