The challenges are not lacking on social networks. If this fashion continues due to their virality, some challenges can take a very dangerous turn. A real scourge on social networks and especially on TikTok. It has been widely pointed out that the social network has just unveiled a space to make young people aware of the risks of online challenges.
While some of the “Ice Bucket Challenge” had amused social network users, others, such as the “Blackout Challenge”, had worried the parents of young TikTok users. By 2021, several children under 13 had succumbed to this new take on the “headscarf game” that consisted of filming themselves holding their breath for the longest time or choking to pass out, hence the “blackout”. These tragedies had even prompted Italy to block access to TikTok for users who could not prove their age corresponding to the minimum age required to use the application.
More than a year after the first tragedies, TikTok is announcing new initiatives to contain and educate users about this “major security problem”. The Chinese social network has just set up a space dedicated to these issues in its security center. A page that adopts the platform’s strategy in the form of four steps: “Stop. To think. Decided. To trade. » Advice to guide users to better understand the risks of these dangerous challenges so they can make an informed choice.
This new initiative will be offered to users who have searched for content categorized as a dangerous challenge by TikTok. They will see a notification appear on their screen with the four steps.
For children and… parents!
In the “Online Challenges” section, there is also a box dedicated to parents, guardians and educators to give them tools to better manage this type of situation with their children or a teenager. Tips to get the child into a conversation and to make them think for themselves. “Parents and teachers told us they were concerned about online challenges but didn’t feel well equipped to have conversations. They were not sure how to approach this difficult subject. †Alexandra Evans, head of public security policy.
To develop this page between advice and explanation, TikTok has surrounded itself with scientists from Harvard University, child psychiatrists and academics around the world.
The social network also relied on the popularity of three influencers (athenasol, batzair and daetienne) to reach the most users. In particular, the latter have created awareness videos to alert their subscribers to the need to “evaluate the content they watch online”, thus advocating smarter consumption. Videos broadcast “in the coming weeks” in the “For You” thread on TikTok for users registered on the platform as being under the age of 18.
“We have an incredibly advanced detection strategy. We have, as I mentioned, a fantastic team of moderators and experts in this field, and we also have this dedicated user reporting button. We have always been able to report dangerous challenges, but in the future there will be a dedicated reporting channel for dangerous challenges, which will be another fantastic aspect of our strategy, which will detect these things as quickly as possible. †
(ETX Daily Up)
(Photo credits: Courtesy of TikTok)