In 2022, TikTok was the most downloaded app in the world. In this sense, Costa Rica is no exception. If you are the father or mother of a kid who uses this platform, this information will be of interest to you to increase protection against harmful content.
Roman Cuprik, content writer at ESET, a cyber threat detection company, explained that TikTok has been embroiled in a series of privacy and cybersecurity issues, including accusations surrounding the excessive collection of data from its users and the sharing with the Chinese government; it might imply that personal data leaks causes harmful influence on children and their mental health. “While most of these concerns are not unique to TikTok, no other social network is receiving as much scrutiny as the hit video app. This is not just because TikTok is often said to collect more information from users than the industry average, and use a more powerful recommendation algorithm than other platforms”,Cuprik detailed.
Request for excessive permits
An Internet 2.0 report indicates that the video platform requests excessive device permissions, and collects large amounts of data, which is actually more than is necessary for its operation.
For example, it collects which apps are installed on the phone and detailed information about the Android operating system. It also requires access to the contacts the user has on their device. “The correct operation of the TikTok application does not require most of the accesses or the data it collects. It can and would run successfully without collecting any of this data, which leads one to believe that the only reason this information has been collected is for data collection”, emphasized Thomas Perkins, engineer and head of Internet 2.0 security. Another featureof the data that this app receives is the approximate location through GPS, as well as the history of transactions and purchases.
“Family Pairing” will allow you to protect your children from harmful content
Research on the influence of TikTok on 78 people with eating disorders was recently carried out in Italy. As a result, it was obtained that in 59% of them the application caused a decrease in self-esteem and in 27% significant changes in their daily life.
The US Department of Homeland Security has also opened an investigation because the app does not do enough to combat children sexual abuse material. Due to these types of problems, TikTok incorporated the “Family Pairing” function, with which parents have a certain degree of control and supervision over their children’s accounts. “A guardian can link their TikTok account to that of the minor and set parental controls, including daily screen time, restricted exposure to some content, search options for the child and visibility for others”, says ESET.
Additionally, this option will provide summaries of the time in the app, the number of times it was opened, and a breakdown of the total time spent throughout the day and night. ESET also has an initiative for this purpose: safer kids online, whose main objective is to accompany mothers, fathers, tutors and teachers in the care of children on the Internet.
