Teen tiktok oops11/21/2023 (Meta-owned Instagram declined to comment for this story.)Ī hotly-contested provision of federal law called Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields internet companies from legal liability for hosting and moderating content that users post on their platforms, could protect TikTok from much of the activity happening on TikTok Live. But more than six months since, Congress has made little progress on its pledge to revamp decades-old children’s online privacy laws. In the wake of a congressional probe into how Meta and Instagram may hurt children and teens - an inquiry prompted by revelations by a Meta whistleblower last fall - lawmakers in October for the first time ever hauled in a TikTok executive to testify about its own policies on underage users. The department did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Forbes. But TikTok was not aware of the Homeland Security investigation, she said. A TikTok spokesperson said “ appreciate that the state attorneys general are focusing on the safety of younger users” and the company is cooperating. In March, a bipartisan group of state attorneys general launched an investigation into TikTok’s alleged harms to underage users, and according to the Financial Times, the Department of Homeland Security is looking into the platform’s handling of child sexual abuse material. In his first State of the Union address in March, President Joe Biden called for Washington to “hold social media platforms accountable for the national experiment they’re conducting on our children for profit.” And while TikTok has been spared the worst of the criticism that has rained down on Meta, formerly Facebook, the Chinese-owned video app is beginning to draw more scrutiny for the dangers experts say it poses to minors. government and regulators’ concerns about youth-focused apps like TikTok are intensifying. Some of the accounts that hosted livestreams viewed by Forbes were no longer active several weeks later. The company said in an email that it also removes content containing sexual activities or attempting solicitation and that it has a zero tolerance policy for child sexual abuse material. “We immediately revoke access to features if we find accounts that do not meet our age requirements.” Those include setting accounts under age 16 to “private” by default and restricting them from using direct messaging. “TikTok has robust policies and measures to help protect the safety and well-being of teens,” a company spokesperson said. TikTok users are supposed to be at least 18 in order to send or receive gifts through Live that can be turned into money, and those under 16 are meant to be blocked from hosting livestreams altogether, according to company rules. In return, the girls are showered with virtual gifts, like flowers, hearts, ice cream cones and lollipops, that can be converted to cash. And many simply coax girls to show their tongues and belly buttons or do handstands and splits. Phrases like “put your arms up” or “touch the ceiling” are often directed at girls in crop tops so viewers can see their breasts and stomachs. Commenters say “outfit check” to get a complete look at a girl’s body “pedicure check” to see their feet “there’s a spider on your wall” to get girls to turn around and show their rears and “play rock-paper-scissors” to encourage girls to flirt-fight or wrestle with each other. Some of the demands are explicit - like asking girls to kiss each other, spread their legs or flash the camera - and some harder to detect, masked with euphemisms. The transactions are happening in a public online forum open to viewers almost anywhere on the planet. But that's exactly what TikTok is doing here.” Imagine a local joint putting a bunch of minors on a stage before a live adult audience that is actively giving them money to perform whatever G, PG or PG-13 activities they request, she said. It’s “the digital equivalent of going down the street to a strip club filled with 15-year-olds,” says Leah Plunkett, an assistant dean at Harvard Law School and faculty associate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, focused on youth and media. These exchanges did not take place between adults at a nightclub they took place on TikTok Live, where MJ, who said she was 14 years old, was broadcasting with friends to 2,000 strangers on a recent Saturday night.Ī Forbes review of hundreds of recent TikTok livestreams reveals how viewers regularly use the comments to urge young girls to perform acts that appear to toe the line of child pornography - rewarding those who oblige with TikTok gifts, which can be redeemed for money, or off-platform payments to Venmo, PayPal or Cash App accounts that users list in their TikTok profiles. “I’m 68 and you owe me one,” one attendee told her as more requests piled on.
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