WATCH: Should parents be concerned about kids using TikTok?

Parents ‘should be’ concerned for kids’ privacy on TikTok, a US intelligence chief said.

In an interview with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell at the Reagan National Defense Forum, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said it is “extraordinary” how adept the Chinese government is at “collecting foreign data,” The Hill reported on an interview Haines had with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell at the Reagan National Defense Forum.

Concerns

“And their capacity to then turn around and use it, to target audiences for information campaigns but also to have it for the future to use it for a variety of means,” she said.

When asked if parents should be worried, Haines responded, “I think you should be.”

Guidelines

However, safety on the service begins with community guidelines, Fortune Mgwili-Sibanda, public policy & government relations director at TikTok in Africa, told The Citizen in September.

“These are the set of rules that are really like the “do’s and don’ts” of what to do on the platform. They are very detailed and there are 11 of them dealing with a variety of aspects.”

“For example, we do not allow hate speech, nudity and sexual activity and the depiction of violence on the platform,” Sibanda said.

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Who can use TikTok?

Sibanda said all users have to agree to abide by the guidelines when signing up on the platform.

“We use these guidelines with our trust and safety teams to actually enforce the rules by literally removing content that violates any of those guidelines.”

Sibanda also advised on who should be using TikTok.

“Question of teens and young users, I think it’s super, super important to always mention that TikTok should not be used by anyone under the age of 13. If you are under 13, you shouldn’t be on TikTok.”

“Bu we still consider those over 13 as young people… We also like to talk to guardians and parents and teachers in schools to make sure that they oversee what content their children are viewing on the platform,” Sibanda said.

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