Post by jinathjemi22222 on Feb 25, 2024 0:54:25 GMT -5
If you've ever spent time on TikTok, it's clear that its user base skews younger. But internal data shows that TikTok believes more than a third of its users in the United States are under 14 years old. TikTok data obtained by The New York Times shows that in July, the viral video-sharing app classified about 18 million of its 49 million daily users in the United States as under 14 years old. The young demographic of TikTok's audience raises concerns about its compliance with children's privacy laws , adding pressure to the platform—as well as its Chinese parent company, ByteDance—in its fight against the Trump administration to remain in the country.
The New York Times report offers the public a rare glimpse into the demographic breakdown of TikTok's user base in the United States, which largely appears to be teenagers who see the app as a platform for viral memes and online humor. . The minimum age to use TikTok is 13 years old, established to help the company comply with US law aimed at protecting the personal information C Level Contact List of minors. Read more: 17 years and 2 million followers: This is how the rapid growth of TikTok has turned ordinary teenagers into influencers Under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), websites and online services must obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from users under 13. years. COPPA protects personal data such as phone numbers, addresses, and photos and videos.
However, a former TikTok employee tells The New York Times that workers regularly identified videos of children on the platform who appeared to be under 13 years old, but that those users were not immediately removed. This isn't the first time TikTok's young user base has questioned whether the platform is protecting children and complying with COPPA. In 2019, TikTok paid a $5.7 million fine to the Federal Trade Commission to resolve allegations that its American predecessor—Musical.ly, which ByteDance acquired and merged with TikTok in 2018—violated COPPA by collecting illegally personal information of children under 13 years of age, including their first and last names, photos and phone numbers.