TikTok is also known as “Douyin” in China, one of the most popular mobile apps in social media. However, this mobile app isn’t promoting wholesome entertainment.
This android app was launched by Chinese company ByteDance in 2017. It is used to make a variety of personal to business short-form videos, from genres like dance, comedy, and education with a duration of 15 seconds to one minute.
Tiktok is the seventh most downloaded mobile app of the decade from 2010 to 2019. It was also the most downloaded app on Apple’s App Store in 2018 and 2019, surpassing Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. It has been made available in over 150 markets and 75 languages.
Despite TikTok’s very phenomenal success, it encounters various controversies, like addiction, immorality, misinformation and user privacy issues. In Western countries, it was accused of spyware, cyberbullying, and being a threat to national security by the Trump administration. In conservative Asia for violation of public morals, racism, promoting obscenity, and encouraging pornography.
TikTok’s main audience is young children. They use this app for entertainment, to gain popularity, as a platform for dance challenges, amid peer pressure, and for boosting self-confidence.
As you can see in FB Tiktok Viral and several accounts, young girls dance in a sexually provocative manner with very tight, revealing bikini attire to half-naked. It doesn’t promote any more art, creativity, and fun for the youth but it can arouse sexual desire. These girls doing dirty dancing-like moves, like “twerking” online is a bad influence on minors for they can become sex objects and easy prey to sex predators online.
Parental guidance plays an important role in children’s TikTok time. Parents should be more vigilant to monitor the children’s TikTok activity. Young people need to understand that dancing is a good ability and talent, but having less cover to one’s body while doing it whether in private or public is a different thing. It violates public morals and decency. It contradicts Filipino values and practices. The state has a policy to protect these minors from sexual exploitation. The state must defend public morals and maintain decency.
In the Philippines, the Department of Social Welfare and Development and women’s groups must take a closer look and study this issue that discreetly affects minors. We can’t allow our young generation to be influenced and lose their morals and decency online because of this mobile app. It’s high time for our lawmakers to “think and talk” over this urgent and relevant issue before it gets serious and out of hand.