{"id":8225,"date":"2020-02-24T11:24:35","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T11:24:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/?p=8225"},"modified":"2020-02-24T11:24:35","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T11:24:35","slug":"tiktok-is-a-pedophile-magnet-and-unsafe-for-kids-warns-cyber-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/2020\/02\/24\/tiktok-is-a-pedophile-magnet-and-unsafe-for-kids-warns-cyber-security\/","title":{"rendered":"TikTok Is A Pedophile Magnet And UnSafe For Kids, Warns Cyber Security"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"TikTok<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust say no\u201d to TikTok. That\u2019s the gist of a message from \u2018Cyber Cop\u2019 Susan McLean as security concerns about the video app, popular with children and teens, continue to mount. (1)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this day and age, it just makes good sense to look after your safety online like you do out there in the real world. As adults, we can see that \u2013 and we understand why. But that\u2019s why we\u2019re the adults\u2026 we have life experience and some\u00a0perspective<\/a>\u00a0on how many creeps are really out there. But kids and teens are in the process of forming these perspectives. It\u2019s up to us as guardians to guide them. Move them toward healthy boundaries, an understanding of how and what to share online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TikTok\u2019s Terms Favor The Pedophile <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every app has a minimum age, and it varies from app to app. TikTok is a social media app that\u2019s available to anyone over the age of 13. The whole premise of TikTok<\/a> is short videos, something akin to Snapchat. Except that these videos stick around, and are shareable too, like Facebook posts. The minimum age of 13 is incredibly low, given that this app is video dependent and that\u2019s one thing that pedophiles are known to love\u2026video. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it is absolutely true that we should be taking every precaution we can with respect to our own safety, it\u2019s a shame that TikTok seems to have little regard for the fact that many of its\u00a0users<\/a>\u00a0aren\u2019t even old enough to sign a legal contract. It\u2019s also a shame that they seem to rely so heavily on a child\u2019s propensity to not see their own \u201csecurity blind spots\u201d. Instead, they seem to be leaving a door wide open for pedophiles to walk right through.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s even more shameful is that even if the child does attempt to do what they can \u2013 set their account to private \u2013 TikTok readily admits that anyone can still request to view a private account\u2019<\/a>s content. See above about the security blind spots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While TikTok may be similar to Snapchat in content and how it is used, in terms of traffic the app is even more popular than Snapchat. And because it\u2019s video, it\u2019s not just pedophiles who find it appealing. Surprise, surprise so do kids. (1)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s more, an investigation in the UK found TikTok could be a parent\u2019s worst nightmare when it comes to negative experiences online. Children were being groomed by pedophiles, received sexually explicit messages, and the platform was rife with bullying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TikTok\u2019s Actions Favor The Pedophile<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, not only do TikTok\u2019s terms of use favor the pedophile, but it seems their moderators have a soft spot for child predators too. Sexually explicit comments appeared on videos posted to TikTok by children as young as 9 years old. When reported to TikTok, most of the comments were removed within 24 hours. Most. But while they did remove most of the comments after they were reported, the vast majority of offenders were not kicked off the platform. (2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though TikTok\u2019s terms of use prohibit sexual messages directed at children, not only do they wait for comments to be reported to them, but they are not likely to take any action against the offenders. Why? Why on earth would any organization so openly support the disgusting and very public actions of these\u00a0pedophiles<\/a>? By not adhering to their own terms, they are basically saying \u201cgo on everyone, no means yes\u201d. Make sure to talk to your kids about the dangers of sharing too much information online. Teach them to never tell anyone their age, address, phone number, or where they go to school. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cJust say no\u201d to TikTok. That\u2019s the gist of a message from \u2018Cyber Cop\u2019 Susan McLean as security concerns about the video app, popular with children and teens, continue to mount. (1) In this day and age, it just makes good sense to look after your safety online like you do out there in the […]\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"tpgb_global_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"tpgb_featured_images":{"full":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Capture-3.png",318,273,false],"tp-image-grid":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Capture-3.png",318,273,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Capture-3-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Capture-3-300x258.png",300,258,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Capture-3.png",318,273,false],"large":["https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Capture-3.png",318,273,false],"default":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-content\/plugins\/the-plus-addons-for-block-editor\/assets\/images\/tpgb-placeholder.jpg"},"tpgb_post_meta_info":{"get_date":"February 24, 2020","get_modified_date":"February 24, 2020","category_list":{"category":[{"term_id":19,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":19,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":238,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":false,"post_format":false},"author_name":"Hope To Heal","author_url":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/author\/hope2233\/","author_email":"webmaster@hopetoheal.org.za","author_website":"","author_description":"Our mission is for women and children to live free from violence and abuse and to provide quality, compassionate, and nonjudgmental services in a manner that fosters self-respect and independence in persons experiencing domestic violence and child abuse and to lead the struggle to end domestic violence through advocacy and community education.","author_facebook":"","author_twitter":"","author_instagram":"","author_role":["administrator"],"author_firstname":"Hope To","author_lastname":"Heal Foundation","user_login":"Hope2233","author_avatar":"","author_avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/00ba9733f71edb9653d7f34fee6719bfc21db4d30ee7e9a8d61ac758d1032f46?s=96&d=mm&r=g","comment_count":0,"post_likes":0,"post_views":0},"tpgb_post_category":{"category":"News<\/a> "},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8227,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8225\/revisions\/8227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.hopetoheal.org.za\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}