What is TikTok and how safe is it?

The UK’s data watchdog is investigating popular Chinese social video app TikTok over its potential mishandling of children’s data and whether it does enough to ensure child safety on its platform.

After launching in the international market in September 2017, TikTok had developed a larger following than Snapchat, Vine and even Twitter by the end of last year, and is attracting a growing number of British teenagers, The Times reports.

The app “allows users to record themselves lip-synching to music videos and share those clips with friends”, and is said to have surpassed one billion downloads on iOS and Android, CNet reports.

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How did TikTok begin?

In 2014, a video-sharing app known as Musical.ly was launched by Shanghai-based tech designers Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang. Users could create videos of up to a minute showing them lip-syncing to songs of their choosing, with added effects including time lapse, slow motion and filters.

By 2015, Musical.ly had attracted millions of followers to become the most-downloaded app on the US iOS store - prompting Chinese internet technology firm ByteDance to create its own version, TikTok. It branded itself as a more “global” version of Musical.ly, launching in Southeast Asia and beyond.

In November 2017, ByteDance paid a reported $1bn to acquire Zhu and Yang’s app, which was then folded into TikTok, reports Vox.

Following the introduction of a number of new features, TikTok emerged in its current form - described by science and tech news site Inverse as a “fusion of Vine’s short video format, Snapchat’s interactive filters, and Musical.ly’s lip-syncing gimmick”.

The app had been downloaded about 80 million times in the US, and nearly 800 million times worldwide by the end of last year, says CNN.

As Vox notes, TikTok “transports you into the worlds of regular American teenagers whose videos have thousands of likes and hundreds of supportive comments”, and the “relative rarity of bullying and trolls that swarm other sites” was a key factor in its rise.

So what happened this week?

UK Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham revealed that an investigation has been underway since February to determine whether children’s data is being mishandled by the platform. Denham said there were also concerns about how its messaging system allowed children to be easily contacted by adults.

The Guardian says the move was prompted by a similar inquiry undertaken by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) earlier this year, which saw TikTok slapped with a fine of $5.7m (£4.2m).

The FTC’s charges related to the app illegally collecting personal information from children aged under 13. The body ruled that the app broke a US federal law - the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act - by failing to seek parental consent before collecting names, email addresses and other personal information from users under 13. In April, TikTok announced age restrictions for new users, preventing under-13s from creating an account, and said it had removed more than six million videos in violation of its community guidelines.

According to TechCrunch, the UK probe will attempt to determine if TikTok violates the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), an EU-wide law implemented last year and which, among other things, requires companies to put special protections in place for underage users.

The Guardian notes that a company can be fined up to €20m (£17.9m), or 4% of its revenue, whichever is higher, for breaching the regulations. However, the paper adds that, as a private company, owner ByteDance “does not have to disclose revenue so it is unknown how high such a fine could be”. The firm currently has a valuation of $75bn (£59bn).

“We are looking at the transparency tools for children,” Denham said on Tuesday. “We’re looking at the messaging system, which is completely open, we’re looking at the kind of videos that are collected and shared by children online. We do have an active investigation into TikTok right now, so watch this space.”

In a statement, TikTok said: “We cooperate with organisations such as the ICO to provide relevant information about our product to support their work. Ensuring data protection principles are upheld as a top priority for TikTok.”

What other controversies has TikTok stirred up?

Two major issues with the app, which goes by the name of Douyin in its native China, arose last year.

The first was the growth of a community of users “who appear to be soliciting explicit images of boys and girls”, said Vice, which reported in December that “some young users have complained on the platform about other people repeatedly asking them for nudes”.

French YouTuber Le Roi des Rats told The Times in 2018 that predators “do not hide at all” on the app, adding: “When a young girl dances in skimpy clothes or imitates sexy dances, you’re sure to find people in the comments either asking them to continue making these kinds of videos, saying they’re sexy or asking for their Snapchat or DM [to direct message]. Some of these girls are not even ten years old.”

The platform does not allow users to send videos or images to other users via direct messaging, so people soliciting nudes “will likely move onto another app after making contact” on TikTok, explained Vice.

In a statement, a TikTok spokesperson said: “Such behaviour is not only abhorrent, it is prohibited on TikTok.

“TikTok doesn’t permit images or videos to be sent in comments or messages, and users can make their account private, block another user, report an account or content, and disable the ability to receive messages.”

There were also reports that “far-right trolls have targeted users” on the site, posting openly racist messages in response to videos uploaded by black or Jewish users, among others, said The Times.

The newspaper cited videos showing people holding signs saying “Jim Crow Laws for US” and wearing Ku Klux Klan-style hoods. One clip shows a caricature of a Jewish man being set alight while a man makes Nazi salutes.

In response, TikTok said: “Promoting a safe and positive app environment is our top priority and we have a number of measures in place today to protect against misuse. Users can make their account private, block another user, report an account or content and disable the ability to receive messages.”