TikTok to filter ‘mature or complex’ videos as child safety concerns mount

By  Theo Wayt

TikTok will start blocking underage users from seeing "mature or complex" content.SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

TikTok said it is rolling out a new feature designed to stop underage users from seeing videos with “mature or complex themes” amid mounting scrutiny over the wildly popular video app’s effect on children

The move comes as TikTok faces wrongful death lawsuits filed earlier this month in California by parents who alleged that their eight and nine year-old children died after trying to recreate “blackout challenge” videos that had been served to them through TikTok.

In an effort to protect underage users from “content with overtly mature themes,” TikTok is introducing a ratings metric the company says is similar to systems used in the film, television and video game industries. 

TikTok will start introducing “maturity scores” in the coming weeks, the company said in a blog post.

     TikTok is cracking down on “mature” content.

     TikTok 

“When we detect that a video contains mature or complex themes, for example, fictional scenes that may be too frightening or intense for younger audiences, a maturity score will be allocated to the video to help prevent those under 18 from viewing it across the TikTok experience,” TikTok’s head of trust and safety Cormac Keenan said in a blog post. 

In addition to the maturity score feature, TikTok is introducing another tool for all users that twill allow users to manually block videos with certain words or hashtags from both their “Following” and “For You” feeds. 

For example, vegan users can block videos about dairy or meat recipes, Keenan said. 

Scrutiny of TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, ranges far beyond the “blackout challenge.” 

          An example of TikTok’s new filter tool. 

          TikTok 

American lawmakers have raised concerns about TikTok serving videos glorifying eating disorders and self-harm to children suffering from such conditions. They have also questioned whether TikTok shares data with the Chinese government, a practice the company has denied. 

In addition, consumer protection advocates have raised concerns about the spread of misleading advertisements for sketchy payday loans on TikTok, as exclusively reported by The Post in June. 

Following The Post’s reporting, TikTok banned several of the ads. 

Circle of Hope Girls' Ranch owners charged with abuse after women spoke out on TikTok

The Circle of Hope Girls' Ranch in Missouri, where at least two dozen women alleged that they were abused. 

By Tyler Kingkade and Liz Brown

The owners of a religious boarding school in southwestern Missouri have been arrested on dozens of abuse charges, following an investigation prompted by alumnae who spoke out on TikTok.

Boyd and Stephanie Householder, the owners and operators of Circle of Hope Girls’ Ranch, were taken into custody Tuesday after the Missouri Attorney General’s office filed a litany of charges.

Court records show Boyd Householder, 71, faces 79 felony counts and one misdemeanor, including charges for child molestation, sodomy, sexual contact with a student and neglect of a child. Stephanie Householder, 55, faces 22 felony charges for abuse or neglect of a child, and endangering the welfare of a child. The alleged incidents occurred from 2017 to 2020.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt told reporters at a news conference Wednesday his office has identified 16 victims “so far,” and that he considers this to be “one of the most widespread cases of sexual, physical and mental abuse patterns against young girls and women in Missouri history.”

“There are no words I can say today to describe the mix of great sadness, horror, disgust and sympathy that I feel about these reports of cruel and almost unbelievable reports of abuse and neglect,” Schmitt said.

The Householders were being held in Vernon County Jail, Cedar County Sheriff James McCrary said. They were scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon.

An attorney who has represented the Householders in civil lawsuits said he will not be representing them in the criminal cases. It was unclear Wednesday if the Householders had a defense lawyer. Stephanie Householder previously told NBC News that she and her husband deny all allegations against them.

Boyd Householder opened Circle of Hope in 2006 as a school that he claimed could reform rebellious teenage girls. Two dozen former residents previously told NBC News and “Dateline” that Boyd and Stephanie used cruel punishments against girls at the ranch, including withholding food, forcing them to perform manual labor and restraining girls face down for as long as an hour.

Schmitt said witnesses told investigators that the Householders restrained girls with handcuffs and zipties, and stuffed dirty socks in their mouths. One girl said Boyd pushed her down the stairs, and another said he advised her on how to kill herself, according to Schmitt.

Charging documents allege that Boyd slammed two girls’ heads against a wall, kept another girl in a room with no light or sound for “an extended period of time on multiple occasions,” poured hot sauce into a girl’s mouth and used duct tape and socks to prevent a girl from using her hands for “several days.” Stephanie’s charges largely stem from allegations that she assisted Boyd in dangerous restraints and allowed him to continue to interact with the girls after assaulting them, according to charging documents.

Since the boarding school opened, concerned parents, staff members and others had reported Circle of Hope at least 19 times to three sheriff’s departments, state child welfare and education officials, the highway patrol, and the state attorney general’s office, according to interviews and records obtained by NBC News.

However, these complaints did not result in charges. An assistant U.S. attorney declined to prosecute in 2018, according to an email from a highway patrol officer who investigated Circle of Hope. And state child welfare and education officials had no authority to close the ranch, a loophole that a bipartisan bill pending in the Missouri Legislature aims to close.

The wave of state action began after the Householders’ daughter, Amanda, and women who attended Circle of Hope as teenagers started to post videos on TikTok last spring alleging abuse at the ranch. The videos prompted the Cedar County Sheriff’s Office to investigate, the office confirmed.

Last summer, about two dozen girls still enrolled in Circle of Hope were removed by state officials as more people came forward with abuse allegations. The Householders voluntarily closed Circle of Hope in August and put the property up for sale.

Schmitt’s office joined the investigation in November, after Cedar County prosecutor Ty Gaither requested assistance.

TikTok Is A Pedophile Magnet And Unsafe For Kids, Warns Cyber Security Expert:

"TikTok also received the biggest fine in US history for gathering data on kids and selling it," revealed Susan McLean, former Victorian police cyber safety specialist.

By Shilpa Das Gupta

If your child is using Tiktok, one of the most popular video-sharing apps, they might not be safe as many have regarded it as a pedophile magnet. The Chinese application, which allows users to create and share short videos, came to limelight in early 2018 after achieving approximately 45.8 million users. Due to its video-only interface, unlike Facebook and Twitter, it gained popularity amongst children, especially those under the age of 16. The app, which has surpassed the popularity of Snapchat, requires a person to only be 13 years of age or above to sign up for an account. This exposes young and impressible kids to predators who can view their pictures and contact them unless the account is private.

Addressing the growing fears surrounding its privacy, Susan McLean, former Victorian police cyber safety specialist, said, "TikTok is not a safe app and there are many concerns, not the least bullying and grooming by predators." Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, she further warned, "Any app that allows communication can be used by predators." A recent investigation conducted by BBC News found that TikTok failed to remove the accounts of people sending sexual messages to teenagers and children.

Through this three month probe, the outlet was able to gather hundreds of sexual comments posted on videos uploaded by teens and kids. Although the company was successful in deleting most of these unsavory comments, they failed to suspend the accounts of users who posted them in the first place, thus going directly against TikTok's own rules of sexual content directed at children. "TikTok does not have the same safety sessions as some of the more well-known apps and routinely do not remove accounts that have been flagged as potentially a predator," explained McLean.

"Paedophiles like to watch kids sing and dance so they can take the videos and share them," she continued. "The data gathering is a huge concern and if the government is worried then it is not a place for kids." While TikTok's website explains how parents have the option to set their kid's profile to private, it also admits that "even with a private account, profile information – including profile photo, username, and bio – will be visible to all users." It also urged parents to 'counsel' their children not to disclose sensitive information like age, address, or phone number on the website.

The application is also feared to increase the scope of bullying through its platform and Kids Helpline revealed that they had received reports from its concerned counselors about the same. In one such occurrence, a child came across a video posted by a girl at school, where she was heard saying that she should "die in a hole." Additionally, there are many concerns about the privacy and data that are used by the company. "Both the US and Australian governments have told serving soldiers that they are not to use it because of security fears," revealed Ms. McLean. "TikTok also received the biggest fine in US history for gathering data on kids and selling it."

TikTok's in-app parental control feature is the combination of Screen Time Management and Restricted Mode, which is called Digital Wellbeing. This feature enables parents to set up a password when they turn on the digital well-being feature on their kid's phone and allows them to set a limit to the time their kid spends on the app per day watching only filtered content.
#TikTokSafetyAcademy

Defending its privacy policy, a spokesperson for TikTok said, "TikTok is an app for users age 13 and over, and we’ve given the app a 12 App Store rating so parents can simply block it from their child’s phone using device-based controls. In our Safety Centre we offer a library of educational resources for teens and their families, including safety educational videos and a safety blog series. As one of many apps with teenage users, we encourage parents to monitor their teenager’s account, review and adjust their privacy settings, help them report any inappropriate behavior, and have an open dialogue with their teenagers about how to be responsible and safe in all online activity."