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.
In 2022, Bark Technologies, the company where I work, released its annual report of data analyzed from more than 4.5 billion messages, and found that 9.4% of tweens and 14.2% of teens have encountered predatory behavior from someone online. This includes TikTok, which is the world's most popular app.
Common Sense recommends the app for age 15+ mainly due to the privacy issues and mature content. TikTok requires that users be at least 13 years old to use the basic TikTok features, although there is a way for younger kids to access the app.
How it starts: A predator targets a child in a public chat, on a social media platform or in an online game. The predator may comment on a social media post or send a direct message. To gain trust, predators will typically lie about their age – they may adopt a persona that's just a bit older than the potential victim.
Online predators use the Internet to exploit kids and teens for sexual satisfaction. There are 500,000 online predators on the lookout daily, targeting children aged 12 to 15. Young people who show vulnerability feed online predators the most. Their goal is to hunt, lure, and groom victims online.
For most internet users, Twitter is the most toxic app among other social media platforms.
Children between the ages of 12 and 15 are especially susceptible to be groomed or manipulated by adults they meet online. According to the F.B.I., over 50 percent of the victims of online sexual exploitation are between the ages of 12 and 15.
The predator identifies a victim who seems vulnerable, often looking for a child with low self-esteem, an obedient/compliant personality, or mental disability. If possible, he or she also assesses the child's home life for signs that the parents are uninvolved or pre-occupied.
Jean Twenge, our nation's leading researcher on how social media impacts child and adolescent development, recommends that no child under 13 should be on any social media, including TikTok. And I would add that many 13-year-olds aren't ready. TikTok offers a curated version of their app for under-13s. Don't use it.
WHAT ARE THE CONCERNS ABOUT TIKTOK? Both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have warned that ByteDance could share TikTok user data — such as browsing history, location and biometric identifiers — with China's authoritarian government.
Major social media platforms, including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, require users to be at least 13. This includes those in Australia and New Zealand.
"We lack any evidence that China has attempted to compel TikTok to manipulate user recommendations or user data in any way that would rise to the level of a national security threat," he added.
Overall, TikTok offers an online platform for young people that feels unusually disconnected from the adult world, one in which they are sure to get some amount of attention.
About 30% of the victims of Internet sexual exploitation are boys. Internet sexual predators tend to fall between the ages of 18 and 55, although some are older or younger. Their targets tend to be between the ages of 11 and 15.
Predators seek out potential victims by looking for children they think are vulnerable, easy targets, or less likely to report abuse (Arévalo, et al., 2014; van Dam, 2001). More specifically, predators look for children who: • Are looking for attention. Need someone to listen to them.
Dating Apps
Similar apps to be aware of are Badoo, Monkey, HILY, Plenty of Fish, and Hot or Not. These apps can be especially dangerous because they register the phone's location to find local users, which could allow predators to find your child's school or address.
Instagram was found to be the worst social media for mental health when reviewed in the study carried out by The Royal Society For Public Health. Some of the negative effects of Instagram included loneliness, fear of missing out (FOMO) and depression.
A predator's goal is to lure and manipulate a child into believing they care for your child more than his or her parents or family. An Internet predator creates a fictitious online personality that emotionally replaces the trusted parent or guardian in a child's mind.
Predators use fake profile pictures, fake ages, fake shared hobbies, etc. They establish an online relationship with the victim, complimenting them and gaining their trust, until the groomer moves toward sexual conversations, and eventually, even using those inappropriate photos as blackmail.