Nowadays, social media plays a massive role in many teens’ lives. Recent research of nearly 750 youngsters reveals that 45% are online daily, and 97% use social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat.

Although social media allows youngsters to communicate and build social networks, especially helping those struggling mentally or with chronic illnesses, society may say that social media often fails to protect children.

According to continued information, more than 6,500 12-15 year-olds in the United States who spend more than three hours daily on social media may be at risk for mental health problems.

TikTok, a short-form video hosting platform, was recently fined for failure to protect children from British regulators. The complaint alleged that the company failed to inform children about the platform’s data practices adequately and handled children’s information without proper parental consent to do so. Reportedly, TikTok also processed sensitive information without having a valid legal basis for doing so.

As much of a concerning topic, Real Research launched a survey on TikTok fined for failure to protect children. Survey results are as follows:

Highlights:

  • 38.92% of respondents say that they use TikTok daily
  • “TikTok is safe like other social media platforms,” say 36.04%
  • 46.95% are well aware of the UK-issued warning to TikTok

Popularity and Safety of TikTok

In this digital world, various types of social media are available – Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok. Real Research survey shows that nearly 40% of respondents are daily active TikTok users. In comparison, 41.01% of respondents use it occasionally or specifically for a reason, while 20.07% do not.

Security is the most crucial aspect of applications. The ultimate goal of application security is to prevent attackers from accessing, modifying, or deleting sensitive or proprietary data; therefore, the following survey raised a question about the safety and security of TikTok.

Most respondents (36.04%) state that TikTok follows appropriate security regulations and is protected like other social media platforms. However, 24.26% state that TikTok is safe but beware of your own security; meanwhile, 20.26% say otherwise.

Failure To Protect Children’s Privacy; TikTok Faces $29M Fine

As per news sources, the UK said it could impose a potential fine of $29 million, followed by an investigation by the UK’s data privacy regulator, which found that over two years from May 2018 to July 2020, TikTok may have breached UK law by violating children’s privacy laws.

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office stated that TikTok may have processed sensitive categories of data without legal grounds.

Accordingly, our survey asked how aware viewers are of the issued warning. Results show that 46.95% were well aware, 27.45% were somewhat aware, and 25.60% were unaware.

Public-awareness-of-TikToks-warning
Figure 1: Public awareness of TikTok’s warning

According to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) reports, “TikTok countered the processed data of under the age of 13 as ‘provisional’ and TikTok would face a $29 million fine for the allegations.”

Survey on TikTok’s failure to protect children asks the public if they think the data in question was harmful or not. Results were as follows: 36.25% stated highly likely, 19.15% said somewhat likely, 20.04% remained neutral, and 12.20% stated highly unlikely.

Is Your Privacy Really Safe on Social Media?

Apart from social media, this year (2022) has been the worst year for cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Hackers have almost grossed about $3 billion across 125 hacks. Although blockchain technology/cryptocurrencies boast robust security, it is possible to hack almost everything, commonly through phishing.

Similarly, over recent years, the security aspect of the use of social media has been a rising concern and a subject of controversy. Our survey asks the public about the safety of using social media platforms.

27.29% reported that it is highly safe, 17.41% reported that it is somewhat safe, and 24.77% were uncertain; meanwhile, 30.54% said the opposite.

Regarding privacy and security of social media platforms, respondents voted as follows:

Facebook was voted as the most secured platform (21.36%), followed by Twitter (12.25%), Instagram (11.78%), TikTok (10.39%), and Snapchat (8.69%).

most-secured-social-media-platforms
Figure 2: Respondents’ votes on most secured social media platforms

Furthermore, results for the survey question, “what are the main factors you consider when using social media platform(s),” show that 21.03% state that the user-friendly aspect is highly expected, surprisingly, 14.34% say security, 7.56% say user-experience, 9.14% say entertainment, and 8.69% based on how informative it is.

Similarly, the survey asked if users consider security an important feature when determining their preferred social media platform; results show that nearly 42% agree with security being the first priority, and 22.42% agree with the above statement but note it’s not a top priority. On the other hand, 17.16% disagree with all the abovementioned statements.

Majority-of-respondents-were-optimistic-about-minors-on-social-media
Figure 3: Majority of respondents were optimistic about minors on social media

Finally, ‘TikTok’s failure to protect children’ survey shows respondents’ opinions on minors being allowed to use social media. Almost 30% highly agreed that minors should be allowed to use social media, 16.95% remained somewhat positive, 21.82% remained neutral, and 16.16% disagreed.

Methodology

 
Survey TitleSurvey on TikTok Fined for Failure to Protect Children
DurationOctober 04 – October 11, 2022
Number of Participants30,000
DemographicsMales and females, aged 21 to 99
Participating Countries Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, China (Hong Kong) China (Macao), China (Taiwan), Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Greanada, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Malaysia, Maldives, Maluritania, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar [Burma], Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zimbabwe.