TSR STAFF: Megan E! @meganryan_e
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A lot of us were furious the other day when the Momo challenge randomly popped up in kids’ Youtube videos wanting them to commit horrible acts. Now, another app, TikTok, is in hot water. The app is a karaoke-like app that allows users to make videos and share with their friends.
Today, TikTok, once known as the Musically app, is being fined for millions after they were collecting data from kids illegally, and even exposing it.
Check out this tea though #Roomies! Although celebrities such as Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber have made videos on TikTok, it is mostly popular among kids. According to @goodmorningamerica, it was downloaded over 200,000,000 times.
Due to the app violating Children’s Online Privacy Protection ACT, they were fined by Federal Trade Commission for $5.7 million.
This is where things took a turn as they were exposing kids’ names, email addresses, profile pictures, and even their locations without any parental consent. These kids are all under the age of 13-years-old, and the app does make it clear that users must be 13-years-old or older.
TikTok did say they will take down all the videos of kids under the age of 13. Although they have an age limit, there is no way to be able to identify the users ages because anyone can claim they are 13 or older
Parents make sure you are aware of your kids’ actions and what they are doing when they are on their phones. The best way to handle this situation is communication and monitoring.
Source: Federal Trade Commission and Good Morning America
