Our team has highlighted four key areas of TikTok that could create online risks for children and young people in your care.

Our team was able to find sample audio clips which featured adult language, sexually explicit words, lyrics, actions and phrases. They were also able to track down music that  is unsuitable for children. One example included the words, “If you want to see me naked, all you have to do is ask”.

Some of this content might be distressing, or shocking to children who could be exposed to it while using the app. It could also promote harmful attitudes toward sex, relationships and body image. There are also concerns about its impact on the unhealthy sexual development of younger children, showing content beyond a child or young person’s development stage. 

Our team regularly trawl the platform and report multiple instances of inappropriate text on the screen, with emojis and symbols used to circumvent TikTok’s safety filtering.

We found multiple examples where the onscreen text depicted inappropriate adult content which could be accessed by children. In some cases, comments involved requests for sexualised behaviour. Users can also use emojis rather than words to search which means they can use popular emojis to find inappropriate content.

Our team was particularly concerned about the use of the users ‘bio’ to include links to other platforms. In some cases users signpost to personalised ‘contact cards’ which lists all their social media handles. In some cases, this included links to OnlyFans and Paypal details.

Our team reported several instances of content where users were wearing few clothes and in some cases posing or dancing in sexually provocative or intentionally revealing ways. While there was no full nudity, in some cases little was left to the imagination.

There were several examples of sexually explicit topics which used on-screen text, audio and video to discuss content that would likely be rated as suitable for 18+.

Key Takeaways

What you can do