By Radhika M
“Children do not constitute anyone’s property: they are neither the property of their parents nor even of society. They belong only to their own future freedom.”
It is an undisputed fact that we all want a better future for our children. The humankind has always been endeavouring to ensure a smooth and peaceful childhood for the children.
Article 16 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states that:
- “No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his or her honour and reputation.
- The child has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”
UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund) which is an agency of United Nations working in the sphere of children’s rights sets out the very basic rights that a child possess.
They are:
- Every child has the right to grow up in a safe and inclusive environment.
- Every child has the right to survive and thrive.
- Every child has the right to learn.
- Every child has the right to an equitable chance in life.
These rights are not exhaustive. A child possesses every human right applicable to them. As mentioned above, every child has the right to grow up in a safe and inclusive environment. The phrase ‘safe and inclusive environment’ is capable of an extensive interpretation.
A child has a right to grow up in a safe and inclusive environment where they can fully enjoy their childhood without any threat or hindrance. This includes the protection of childhood from violence, threat, abuse, manipulation and the extension of familial as well as communal support to the young members of the society.
At one end of the rope, we are trying to ensure that our children are fed, educated and healthy. But at the other end, something else poses a greater question to the childhood – Technology.
Well, technology has been playing both hero and villain in our lives since the day of its invention. The same goes for internet and the services born from it. The birth of social medias was another game changing event. Suddenly people were familiar with each other, and the thing called ‘privacy’ was out of place.
It has not been long since we understood the importance of ‘Right to Privacy’ in our lives in this information age.
The Privacy
Black’s Law Dictionary defines ‘privacy’ as the right to be let alone, the right of a person to be free from unwarranted publicity. It is also the right to live without one’s name, picture or statute, or that of a relative, made public against his will.[2]
So, every person has a right to privacy irrespective of his age, race, gender and nationality. Any disclosure of any information relating to a person without his authority is the violation of his right to privacy.
But, how well protected are our privacies in this information age? We are directed to agree to the terms and conditions displayed by websites, applications, and similar service providers without any negotiation.
We have no option other than to quit such services if do not agree to their terms and conditions. And it has become almost impossible to quit so. We are compelled by the nature of work, communication requirements and peer pressure to continue the usage of such services.
And by agreeing to such terms and conditions, we agree to exchange of a handful of data relating to our identities. It ranges from phone book access to bank credentials. But the access of social media to our personal data is quite extensive and different from all other internet products.
Other than the access to our data, the shaping of our preferences by algorithm is more concerning.
Since the target of social media is mainly youngsters, it is wholly changing the way they view the world. Also, they are much prone to the abuses that happen online than any other class of people. Studies show that more than 1 in 3 children are regular users of internet and somehow, they are exposed to at least one kind of social media.
This article mainly focuses on the child privacy issues in the mobile application ‘Tik Tok’.
What is Tik Tok?
Tik Tok is a video-sharing social networking site. It mainly focuses on creating, sharing and viewing videos which ranges from 15 seconds to 1 minute. Tik Tok was originally launched in China in 2016 as Douyin.
Tik Tok is an international version of Douyin which is owned by a Chinese company called ByteDance. It was launched in 2017 outside China and surpassed two billion mobile downloads till 2020.
One can create an account in the Tik Tok and avail the services provided. The account in Tik Tok is public by default when we create it, which means the contents we create in the application or site is visible to all the users in Tik tok.
However afterwards we can change the account into private mode in which only the added ‘friends’ will be able to view the content we post. We can create videos using the background music provided, apply effects or filters and share it in the platform. People who see them may react to the post by ‘liking’ them or commenting on it.
People can also send messages through the application. There is a section called ‘for you’ in the application where we can see videos posted by other persons. This section is customized by the genre of videos we regularly watch or what we prefer to watch.
Since the application became popular in all parts of the world, it is potential as a marketing platform also escalated. Tik Tok users with great numbers of followers were tagged as influencers and they started to endorse products. In this way trends were created, and stars were born.
Information collected by Tik Tok
The data collected by the platform includes:
- User name, age, language, email address or phone number,
- Social media account information, profile image,
- Photos, videos or any other content created in the platform,
- Payment information,
- Information a user shares through contests, challenges, surveys etc such as gender, likeness, and preferences,
- Information provided for correspondence or for verification,
- Information collected from third parties like social networking sites namely Facebook, twitter etc, if the user has signed up using such accounts,
- Usage information, device information, location data, messages etc.
The information collected by Tik Tok is mainly used for:
- For troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical, and survey purposes etc.
- To customize the content a user watch,
- For showing advertisements and promotion of products of Tik Tok and other parties,
- For improving the platform,
- To understand how a user use the Platform,
- To assess a user’s age, gender, and interests,
- To help us detect abuse, fraud, and illegal activity on the Platform.
The data collected by the Tik Tok is shared with:
- Service providers and business partners for the purpose of research, database maintenance, administering contests and promotional offers, advertising, analytics, data storage etc.
- The corporate group of Tik Tok (such as parent or subsidiary company),
- For legal reasons or in the case of sale or merger or bankruptcy of the entity,
- Third party social platforms like Facebook or twitter if the user consents to.
The effect on privacy of children
In 2019, Tik Tok was fined with $5.7 million by US Federal Trade Commission for illegally collecting information of children under 13 years of age.
As per Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, if an online service provider wants to collect information from children under 13 years of age it shall seek parental consent. The Tik Tok failed to do seek parental consent even though it was explicit from the accounts that the users were under 13 years of age.[3]
Similarly in United Kingdom, it faced a similar legal challenge. A lawsuit was filed against the tech-giant for illegally collecting and handling information regarding children under the age of 13 years. It was alleged that 44% of children aged between 8 and 13 years uses Tik Tok and yet the company turned a blind eye towards the privacy regulations.[4]
Therefore the Tik Tok was forced to introduce a new privacy policy for young users (under 13 years of age) in USA which stated to collect minimum information from under age users.
Tik Tok officially states that only persons above the age of 13 years can use its platforms (as per USA privacy policy of Tik Tok). If a child under the age of 13 years uses it, such a child can create a video but will never be allowed to share it. The content created by a child under 13 years will not be visible to Tik Tok or its users.
However the child can explore content created by others. Other users can’t view a child’s profile in the application and messaging option is disabled. A child under 13 years cannot exchange interactions with other users and vice versa. Also the company introduced a new feature of parental guidance in the application.
The information collected from younger users include:
- Surname.
- Password.
- Birth date.
- Device information, usage information (like how much time is spent on the platform).
- IP address, geo location, country etc.
This collected information is used for:
- To authenticate the young users;
- To provide personalized content;
- Advertising;
- Perform analytics and trouble shooting;
- Legal or regulatory compliance.
The information collected is shared for the purposes of:
- Court order compliance,
- In response to a law enforcement or public agency’s request,
- To prevent the commission of any crime or matters relating to public safety,
- To take precaution against liability,
- Protection and integrity of the site and application.
The minimum age requirement access Tik Tok varies from one country to another.
The privacy policy applicable to UK, EEA and Switzerland states that the application is not directed at children under the age of 13 years.
In Indonesia, the minimum age requirement is 21 years. In Vietnam the requirement is 16 years and in Thailand it is 20 years.
The issue with the child safety and privacy in the application is that a child can randomly input any date as his/her birth date so as to prove that he/she is above the minimum age requirement. This loophole can expose millions of children to a social media which is capable of intruding their privacy as well as to bring behavioural changes. They are likely to come across online predators and become a business model to the exploiters.
Studies show that even a college going student cannot fully comprehend the terms and conditions provided in an application or website. So it’s impossible for a child to understand what they are really up to when using such applications.
Countries which banned Tik Tok
India
India banned Tik Tok along with other 223 Chinese applications amid border tensions with China and in the interest of ‘national security and integrity’.
The Indian Government also alleged that Chinese Government had access to the data collected by Chinese owned applications which is a greater threat to right to privacy. Even though India is lacking a comprehensive data protection act (Personal Data Protection Bill is still under the scrutiny of Parliamentary committee), the Judgment in Justice K.S.Puttaswamy v. Union of India[5] ensured that right to privacy is a Fundamental right.
Before the ban of Tik Tok in India, Madras High Court in the case of Muthukumar v. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India[6], a public interest litigation directed the Central Government to ban it. The Court observed that the application was showing inappropriate and obscene content in which children and women are falling as prey. Even though the order was lifted after the assurances from the Tik Tok eventually the Indian government banned it.
USA
Even though the Trump administration issued ban of the application, the Tik Tok obtained a Court in their favour.
Indonesia
Even though the country banned the application due to the inappropriate, obscene, child pornography content, the ban was lifted after the reassurance from the company.
Likewise, the application was banned in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Armenia due to similar concerns.
Conclusion
Without a doubt, right to Privacy is one of the most cherished human rights. Even though human being is a social animal, it is his individuality that makes him different from others.
The right of a child to possess privacy is not different from his adult counterpart. And more than a child’s right, it is the duty of a society to ensure that his right is protected. It needs to ensure that a child does not become business model to explore the future possibilities at the cost of his privacy.
Any invention or progression shall not hinder or affect the innocence of childhood. His thoughts shall not be customized by any platform rather it shall be tailored by the natural course of events happening in his life.
References
- Mikhail Bakunin, Russian philosopher, author of God and the State ↑
- Holloman v. Life Ins. Co. of Virginia, 192 S.C 454 ↑
- https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/02/video-social-networking-app-musically-agrees-settle-ftc ↑
- .bbc.com/ ↑
- K.S Puttaswamy v. Union of India AIR 2017 SC 4161. ↑
- Muthukumar v. Telecom authority of India W.P 7855 of 2019 ↑
