Episode 16: TikTok and Privacy – Part 2

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In Part 2 of our two-part series on TikTok and Privacy, we start off by looking at the mental health effects of being on the short-form video app. From feeding users a constant stream of harmful content to shaming people about their body image, TikTok has come under tremendous heat from critics around the world.

While TikTok’s community guidelines state that bullying and other forms of harassment are violations, only content moderators in the Beijing office are allowed to ban accounts. With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stating that there has been a 60% increase in high school girls seriously considering or planning suicide, social media has no doubt played an integral part in this trend.

TikTok has also made itself infamous with dangerous viral challenges. From the blackout and Benadryl challenges to the Tide Pods and burning pile challenges, the app has led to many users’ physical harm–all for some fleeting attention.

Many critics have accused TikTok of restricting or shadow banning people who are less attractive, overweight, disabled or living in poor locations. The assertion is that the app wants to promote more “desirable” content. TikTok defends itself by claiming it is attempting to protect users from being the target of bullying.

Although TikTok’s minimum age restriction is 13 years old, it has no verification system, meaning there are likely many children on the app who are under 13. TikTok also has experienced problems with child predators on the app and has been sued multiple times over collecting personal data on children without parental consent.
To wrap up the episode, we talk about how ByteDance learned from the mistakes of Vine and leveraged that knowledge in building out TikTok. We address how TikTok makes money and then close with ByteDance’s ambitious plans for global domination in virtually every significant online industry.

Links Referenced:
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/privacy-and-data-security/does-tiktok-wiretap-users-mounting-privacy-suits-press-claim
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djk159kLBwA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVJl975ya-U

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