“The TikTok tactic, opacity, addiction and Chinese shadows”. The title of the report from the Senate committee of inquiry into TikTok can hardly be more clear in describing the fears that the Chinese app arouses among French elected officials.
After having heard many experts on the subject, as well as the French representatives of the application, the Senate issued its conclusions. With, in the document, strong support for the potentially negative consequences of TikTok on the youngest.
“Extremely addictive” algorithm
From its first pages, the report highlights TikTok’s recommendation algorithm, “extremely addictive that retains its users, mainly children and adolescents, for hours on their screens.”
A finding shared by the entire industry. According to the firm App Annie, TikTok manages to capture the attention of its 22 million French users twice as long as its competitor Instagram.
Among its recommendations, the Senate thus invites to “support research on the health and psychological effects of the TikTok application.” And the elected officials go further, as they advocate a flat suspension of the application “in case of proven danger” on the mental health of the youngest.
A danger regularly pointed out, in particular due to the filters put forward by TikTok. Recently, the “Bold Glamour” filter marked users by transforming their face into a “beautified” version, following the standards of cosmetic surgery. It has been used hundreds of millions of times around the world.
60 minutes a day
But the report goes further, drawing inspiration in particular from what the Chinese government forced TikTok to do for its local version: impose a daily usage limit. Thus, the text recommends establishing “for minors an application block after 60 minutes of use.”
In China, this daily limit for children under 14 years of age has been set at 40 minutes per day. The Chinese version of TikTok (nicknamed Douyin) was also forced to make mandatory five-second breaks between two videos for young users who spend too much time on the platform.
To enforce these rules, the report recommends requiring Tiktok to “implement a robust age verification system, including an independent third-party verifier.”
TikTok has already proposed in recent weeks a limitation of the use of TikTok to 60 minutes a day, but in a more optional framework.
This point is raised by the report, which explains that it asked TikTok to share figures on the effectiveness of this measure, in particular by communicating the number of minors who actually stop consulting the platform after one hour. A petition that has remained a dead letter, says the Senate.
Source: BFM TV
