Digital well-being of minors and families: TikTok announces Youth Council

TikTok and security, a troubled relationship on multiple fronts, between privacy and digital well-being. Among the most discussed is the excessive use made of it especially by adolescents and pre-adolescents, leading to real addiction pathologies. The “credit” goes entirely to TikTok’s “killer” algorithm, capable of capturing the user’s attention, recreating an uninterrupted flow of videos tailored to their interests, so much so that it pushes analysts to talk about a “social threat”. Accusations which have never had any effect on the use of the app, but which have led to an ever-increasing number of government countermeasures to limit its use or at least direct users to be more cautious, with the latest initiative of the Guarantor of Italian Competition and Market, which imposed a fine of ten million euros on ByteDance and its subsidiaries for the dissemination of content likely to threaten the psycho-physical safety of users, in particular minors.

TikTok creates Youth Council to create new media literacy campaigns

Critical issues that the Chinese at ByteDance can hardly continue to ignore and, in this sense, the Youth Council initiative is moving in the direction of updating the security of the app, especially for the most fragile users such as minors. The launch comes as a global study of more than 12,000 adolescents aged 13 to 17 and their parents reveals a greater desire for users to work together with digital platforms to improve safety and information.

The TikTok Youth Council – the second after the 2020 experience – was created in collaboration with Praesidio Safeguarding, an agency specialized in online safety, and is made up of 15 young people aged between 15 and 18 representing different communities and countries. The group first met in December 2023 and recently completed their second meeting in February which was attended by TikTok CEO Shou Chew. The participants thus provided contributions to the TikTok Youth Council Portal, currently being redesigned, and asked for information to understand what happens after a report is made and the blocking of accounts or content that they can follow. “It’s an incredible and extremely unique opportunity to help shape the TikTok community on a global scale. One of my main goals is to advocate for the interests and concerns of young creators. I hope to actively contribute to discussions to promote inclusivity, creativity and a positive environment,” said a 15-year-old TikTok Youth Council member from the United States.

«TikTok Youth Council has set out its priorities for 2024, which include a focus on teen well-being and inclusion to ensure TikTok continues to be a safe and accessible space for young people to show up for who they are. In particular, in 2024 we will launch over 10 in-app media literacy campaigns around the world, which will focus on disinformation and AI-generated content”, we read in the presentation of the initiative, without specifying further information on these campaigns.

Valiant Richey, Global Head of Outreach and Partnerships for TikTok, added: «TikTok is a platform where families come together to create and enjoy memorable moments and we want to ensure we equip families with the tools they need to do this and listen to teens and make changes based on what they have to say is one of the most important steps we can take to continue building a secure platform.”