By: Janillaine Platero
Heads up, TikTok users! The Chinese-owned app has deleted around 7.3 million accounts of minors, allegedly those who are 12 years old and under, during the first three months of 2021.
The transparency report of TikTok says that 11,149,514 accounts were removed because of violating the app’s rules. It includes here the 7,263,952 accounts that are thought to belong to children under the age of 13. TikTok uses different solutions that will monitor accounts where users are suspected of falsifying their age, including a safety moderation team.
The report says, “Our TikTok team of policy, operations, safety, and security experts work together to develop equitable policies that can be consistently enforced,”
Photo from Unsplash
They have also deleted 61,951,372 videos that broke the app’s guidelines. It contains “hateful” content, nudity, and harassment. According to this social media app owned by Beijing-based tech company ByteDance, this is to make the app safer for everyone.
Angel Wenceslao, a 12-year-old TikTok user who got her account deleted, shared her sentiment. “Nakakainis po kasi gagawa ulit ako na naman po ng bagong account. Parang unfair ‘yun kung sa amin lang na mga bata at saka okay naman po TikTok kahit bata, at doon na nga lang po kami nag-e-enjoy kasi hindi kami puwede lumabas.” (It’s not fair for us [kids] and I have to create again a new account. I think that Tiktok is safe for kids, and it is the only thing that we get to enjoy now that we are not allowed to go outside.)
As for Cindy Surla, the 17-year-old TikTok content creator supported TikTok’s decision. “Tiktok has a wide range of population who’s active in using their app. They can only not just watch random videos but also have the capability of creating a video. Some videos include sexual content, offensive content, or any videos which can trigger a child’s mind, and worse is when they imitate the actions because of what they have watched. I side with TikTok for deleting 7 million underage users of their app, which means they not just go for the hype, but they also think what a random video can cause to a child. They are concerned about what’s happening,” said Surla.
Over one billion people all over the world use TikTok. The app has been downloaded over 2.6 billion times worldwide, as reported by Sensor Tower in December 2020. People in Southeast Asia are one of them where the app has been downloaded 360 million times.
What do you think of TikTok’s measures of protecting the minors in the app? Share with us in the comment!