Online safety for young music stars on TikTok

With the Tiktok app, children and young people present themselves like pop stars. This attracts a dubious audience. Parents can take precautions with the right settings.

Tiktok is one of the most popular apps among children and young people - while most adults are completely unaware of it. With Tiktok, you can film yourself or other people while dancing like a pop star to a song and singing playback. A huge selection of songs is available for the soundtrack of the videos you make. To spice things up, you can add time-lapse, slow-motion and other special effects and filters to the maximum 15-second clips. Of course, the music video does not remain on your own smartphone, but is actively shared with other users.

Access to location and contacts

Formerly known as Musical.ly, the app has been criticised for collecting sensitive data from young people. The Chinese company Bytedance bought the app in 2017. Since then, it has been running under the name Tiktok and is operated from China. The age restriction of 13 years can be easily circumvented. As a result, many younger children also use the app. This is a cause for concern as Tiktok can access the user's location and phone contacts. There is also a risk of cyberbullying and unwanted contact from adults, known as cybergrooming, as many young users share personal content and pose in provocative and scantily clad poses like their role models in YouTube music videos.

Educate and minimise risks

With the right behaviour and app settings, Tiktok can be used with reduced risk. Explain the dangers to young people and set up the app together with them. Children under the age of 13 should not use the app.

  • Profil auf «Privat» stellen. So können nur jene (persönlich bekannten) Tiktok-Nutzer, die eine Berechtigung erhalten, persönliche Inhalte sehen. 
  • Kommentar- und Nachrichtenfunktion ausschliesslich für befreundete Tiktok-Nutzer erlauben. 
  • Kontaktaufnahme von Unbekannten sperren.
  • In-App-Käufe deaktivieren.
  • Eine Zeitbeschränkung aktivieren.
  • Machen Sie die ersten Schritte gemeinsam mit dem Kind und vereinbaren Sie, wie sich die ­Kinder bei unerwünschten Nachrichten oder Kommentaren verhalten sollen. 
  • Sensibilisieren Sie die Kinder dafür, welche Inhalte und Bilder sie nicht veröffentlichen dürfen. 

Bild: iStock

Michael In Albon ist Beauftragter Jugendmedienschutz und Experte Medienkompetenz von Swisscom.
Michael In Albon is a youth media protection officer and media literacy expert at Swisscom.

On Medienstark you will find tips and interactive learning modules for the competent use of digital media in everyday family life. swisscom.ch/medienstark