TikTok Child Predators - An Issue that Parents Should be Aware of

TikTok has surpassed Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube in usage and monthly installs. The app is popular around the globe, with more than 50 million people using the app every day. Most of the users are teenagers who upload lip sync videos or comedy sketches. Let’s look at why parents should be concerned about TikTok child predators.

How Popular Is TitTok Among Today's Kids?

TikTok is now available in over 150 countries. The social app has over 1 billion users and has a record of over 200 million downloads in the United States alone. The target audience includes individuals who are aged between 13 and 40. Recent studies reveal that kids' app usage and habits indicate a major threat to other social applications.

Most kids now split their time between apps like Netflix, TikTok, and gaming platforms. TikTok is more appealing to the young generation. Kids of this era are now watching twice as many videos daily compared to three years ago. The app focuses more on what it feels like to grow up in today's world. Even some of them have get addicted to this app.

It remains to be popular among the youths as it gives them the fear of missing out. You may see a photo of some of your friends having the time of their life. As a result, the next time you go out, you will want to post for your followers to see that you are also having a whale of a time.

Is TikTok Predator a Real Concern?

Yes. Over the past few years, there have been online cases that prove that child predators do exist on TikTok. It gets worse: Recent investigations found that child predators are grooming kids as young as 8 and young users encounter lots of explicit messages. In 2020, a man from California pled guilty to creating child pornography using this app.

The sad truth is that wherever your child goes, TikTok child predators follow. Recently, parents of a significant number of TikTok users filed complaints regarding this issue. Many teens have fallen victims to these predators. These experiences are likely to interfere with your child’s mentality.

What Troubles May Tiktok Predators Bring To Our Kids?

Teenagers use TikTok to gain popularity, cure boredom, and interact with their friends. However, there are some loads of problems that predators bring to kids when they use TikTok. These include:

• Exposing Your Kid to Inappropriate Content

There have been countless reports from parents about older men lurking on the app. The main intention of TikTok online predators is to send explicit messages to unsuspecting teen users. This exposes your kid to age-inappropriate content that corrupts their mind.

• Predators May Harm Your Kid

TikTok has a private message feature that potential predators can use to connect with your kid. This is crazy: Predators may use this feature to build trust with your kid and cause physical harm in the end. No parent would like to see their child get harmed by an online TikTok predator pretending to be a teen.

• Privacy Issues

TikTok predators can interfere with your teen's privacy. The majority of the kids are not familiar with the privacy concerns when using the app. They put their lives on display for the whole world to see. A predator can use this information for malicious purposes. Parents need to be careful with the information that their children post on social media platforms.

• They Can Hurt Your Child's Self-esteem

Children are likely to have lower self-esteem. A large volume of negative comments can have a devastating impact on your kid's self-esteem. Many people criticize TikTok for negatively impacting kids' confidence. Harming a child's self-esteem can end up hurting their mental health. Also, it may cause kids to turn into issues such as eating disorders due to low self-esteem.

• Cyberbullying

Recent studies reveal that kids on TikTok are making fun of each other's videos, while others make the videos to ridicule their fellow students. Predators often use this platform to bully kids, which can have a long-term negative effect on your child.

• Mental Health Issues

Experts report that it is easy to come across triggering content that TikTok child predators post on the app. Such content could promote issues like self-harm and mental health issues. No parent would want their child to grow up with mental health complications.

What Can Parents Do To Keep Kids Safe on Tiktok?

Social networks have been on the rise over the past few years. It is not surprising to notice your kid's obsession with the TikTok app. There are lots of online threats that your kid may encounter on TikTok that could impact their lives negatively. Keeping this in mind, here are some tips that will help you ensure your kids are always safe when using TikTok.

• Talk to Your Kid About Predators

Because TikTok predators can freely leave comments on your child's posts, this increases the chances of your child receiving negative, hurtful messages. Parents should educate their kids on the methods that predators use to lure victims. Tell them about the signs they should look out for when they suspect that someone is a predator and the damage they can cause to their life. Doing this will allow your kid to know what to expect when they are on the internet, and they will prioritize safety whenever they are using the app.

• Beef Up on Privacy

TikTok users can set their accounts to be public, allowing anyone to view and comment on the videos or photos that other people post. You also have the option of setting your kid's account to private. Once you set their account to private, other users will need to get approval before they can see their content. In turn, this ensures that your kid enjoys a safe experience on TikTok.

• Limit screen time

TikTok has a screen Time Management feature available in the privacy and settings option. This special feature allows you to set a time limit. Once the daily time limit is completed, your kid will have to enter a password to continue using the app. Not only does setting a screen time limit ensure your kids spend their time well but it also keeps them safe from TikTok predators.

• Manage The Settings in the App

The three dots in the upper right-hand corner will direct you to the Privacy and settings section of the app. Scroll down and select the privacy and safety option, where you will see an option to set your child's account to private. Once you click 'Private,' only restricted users will access your child's content. What's more? You can customize who can react to any content your child posts.

• Pay Attention To Your Childs' Attitude

When a child engages in suspicious online activities, you need to be keen and have a discussion about what they are doing when online. TikTok predators pretend to be caring to kids to lure them away from their families. When you notice anything suspicious in your child's behavior, you should talk to them. Educate them about the potential dangers that they may encounter on the internet.

• Use FamiSafe

FamiSafe is a useful tool that allows you to prevent your child from accessing any violent or age-inappropriate content online. Here are some of its features that you can use to protect your kid when they are online using apps such as TikTok.

• Tiktok monitoring: check your child's TikTok history browsing records. You can also block the TikTok on kid's device and set the usage time of the TikTok.

• Web Filtering Feature: FamiSafe comes with an effective web filtering feature that screens all the web pages that your kids visit and filter out the ones that are not appropriate. The app also notifies you whenever your kid visits a site with inappropriate content. What's the best part? You can block any websites that have unnecessary content such as pornographic content.
• Safe Search: When you enable Safe Search, FamiSafe will filter out all age-inappropriate content. As such, when your kid types in words that you do not like in a search engine or try to make harmful searches, the app will filter out dangerous and worrying results.
• Browser History: Checking your kid's browsing history allows you to see everything that they are doing online. This feature allows you to know in time if they are into anything unhealthy or dangerous.

TikTok is a fun and creative platform for children. However, without parental supervision, kids can come across adult content. Before you allow your child to use TikTok, sit down with them and have a talk on the potential online threats that they may face. If you happen to be a TikTok beginner, we've prepared a TikTok user guide for you as well that may help you better understand this app. To ensure your kid is doing the right thing when you're at work, you can use FamiSafe parental control. The app can help you prevent your kid from becoming a victim of TikTok child predators.