Dictoc, Snapshot and YouTube before the US Congress to discuss their influence on children

Elected authorities in the United States want to legislate to increase the protection of children on these social networks, where they are sometimes subjected to violent and inappropriate content.

Representatives from Dictoc, Snapshot, and YouTube discussed their influence on children who are the most frequent users of these sites by the U.S. Senate Commission on October 26.

A few weeks after the trial, in front of the same business group, Whistleblower Francis Hougan, he revealed with supporting documents that Facebook’s internal research shows that his use of the social networking site Instagram is harmful to some. Of the teenagers who used it.

Inappropriate content

“Dictoc, Snapshot and YouTube all play a key role in exposing children to dangerous content,” said Senator Marsha Blackburn, co-chair of the group.

“Social media can provide entertainment and educational opportunities,” the commission wrote in a presentation to the inquiry. ..) and kidnapping of minors. “

Many elected officials want legislation to include additional safety measures for minors in the texts.

Specific activities for young people

Snapchat has set a minimum age of 13 for registration on the network, while TikTok and YouTube offer younger versions with specific filters and security.

DickTok Public Affairs Manager Michael Beckermann, in his inaugural report, listed a series of devices designed to protect children and adolescents. Version for young users under 13 (TikTok for young users) does not allow posting videos or commenting on videos posted by others.

For 13-16 year olds, the social network prohibits live streaming (livestream), which, by default, can only be consulted with these young users by a personal account, i.e. by persons authorized by the holder.

“It is always possible to go further in terms of the safety of children and adolescents,” Michael Beckerman acknowledged, confirming that the team has continued its efforts in this direction.

Dictoc said at the end of September that it now has more than a billion active users (at least one link per month).

At the beginning of the trial, Senator Blackburn pointed out that the social network is a subsidiary of the Chinese group ByteDance. For those selected, TikTok offers Chinese authorities “access to our children”.