«Immediate block of the use of data of users for whom the age of the registry has not been ascertained with certainty “. This is the provisions of the Privacy Guarantor against the social network Tik Tok following the tragic death of the 10-year-old girl in Palermo, found dying by her parents while in the bathroom she was trying, according to what was reconstructed by the investigators, to participate in the Blackout challenge (the online challenge that consists of keeping a belt tight around the neck as much as possible and resisting).
After a few hours the doctors were forced to note his brain death.
«Privacy and security are a top priority for TikTok and we are constantly working to strengthen our policies, processes and technologies to protect our entire community and our younger users in particular “, commented, in a note, a spokesperson for the social network on the decision of the Authority for the protection of personal data.
What has been ordered by the Authority corresponds, as the Guarantor himself explained to Republic to an immediate blocking of the social network, since “TikTok does not currently have secure identity verification tools”. The provision will remain in force until February 15, the date on which new checks will be carried out. Until that time, according to the provisions, users under the age of 13 should not be able to access the platform and those who are already registered should be unable to access their profile until that date.
“The technology would allow to ascertain the age, but TikTok does not currently use these tools: this confirms the need for a block”, explained to Republic Guido Scorza, member of the College of the Guarantor. For these reasons, the Chinese social network had already been placed under observation, last December, by the Authority that contested the web platform little attention to the protection of minors, underlining the ease in being able to circumvent the ban on access to social media by minors. 13 years old.
«There are already clear rules that say that in social networks in Italy under 13 no minors can register, yet already at 8 they have a profile », explains the psychologist and psychotherapist Giuseppe Lavenia, author of the book I want the cell phone!, in which he presents the project of digital license starting from classes 5 of primary school. “Those who produce mobile phones do not recommend using smartphones before this age, yet there is a law in Italy that provides for a SIM card for a minor as early as 9 years old. In any case, the document and the signature of the parent or guardian are always mandatory “.
And it is from the family that Lavenia suggests starting to address the complexity of access to the web by minors. “We are the ones who always give access to the network too soon and above all without any rule or preventive measure. If we give a sim and a smartphone to 9 years old, and this is the age in which the first smartphone is given, we must be aware that we are giving an important tool but that allows access to content that can expose the child to risks and dangers “.
A risk that can be attempted to monitor. “You have to take on the burden of following and getting to know your children even in their digital world, asking what they do online and letting them know that we will constantly supervise their smartphone. There is no privacy in these cases, the responsibility for what they do and say online remains (at least up to 18 years) to us adults. So the first rule to subscribe if your child wants a cell phone is that passwords are shared otherwise the cell phone is not available “.
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