The truth is, TikTok currently has no comprehensive measures to limit user age in Vietnam. It is not uncommon to see children holding smartphones and “scrolling through TikTok”. No one knows whose account these children are using and what age they registered at.
It is also quite difficult to know what percentage of parents set up TikTok accounts for their children under the age of 18. Most of us are complacent in protecting our children from harmful content on social media, and such content is rampant on TikTok.
In recent years, TikTok has emerged as the most downloaded app in the world, not just in Vietnam. Naturally, the number of daily TikTok users has increased in proportion to the download statistics. Therefore, TikTok cannot completely control the volume of videos uploaded to this platform.
Similar to YouTube a few years ago, users could even “watch 18+ movies” on that platform before Google tightened the rules on permissible content. TikTok, at this time, simply cannot do what Google does, and harmful, obscene, and degenerate content still floods this application.
Not long ago, horrific transformation trends with vulgar language heavily laden with 18+ content emerged abundantly on TikTok. Even this content became “trending” for many young people to cover. Thus, this harmful content is publicly available on TikTok as an obvious fact.
And how many children have inadvertently watched these TikTok clips while using their parents’ TikTok accounts? That is something we cannot know when the content on this platform is suggested through an “incomprehensible” algorithm. And then, just out of curiosity, TikTok has negatively impacted the psychological development of children, potentially even causing distortions in their personality development. TikTok is much more dangerous than we think, simply because this platform lacks regulations and protective measures for users against harmful content.