Thursday 6th January 2022
Dear Year 6 Parents and Carers,
RE: Year 6 TikTok E-Safety
It’s important for the mental health, well-being and safety of our children that we inform parents of any activity or risks which occur online. Many of our children in year 6 are users of TikTok.
TikTok is a free social media app that lets you create, share, and watch short clips which is very popular with teens and pre-teens. TikTok has a minimum age of 13 according to their terms and conditions, so it’s essential that any children using it under this age are supervised and supported.
This week children have reported that a fake account has been set up, pretending to be pupils from our school. This account has left comments on other children’s accounts that are either inappropriate or inflammatory. For this reason, it’s important that any children using the platform have the correct privacy settings in place to prevent unknown users from seeing and commenting on our children’s posts.
If your child is a current user of TikTok then please speak with them so that:
- They are aware how to set their account to private
- They can control who can see and comment on their posts
- Block any users that make them feel uncomfortable or upset
- Report users that are behaving fraudulently or inappropriate.
I have included some information below which was taken from their website: https://support.tiktok.com/en/account-and-privacy
If you would like more information on other risks that TikTok poses, then please visit Common Sense Media. This is useful for many apps and social media websites.
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/app-reviews/tiktok
On TikTok, you can choose whether to have a private account or a public account.
If you have a private account, only people you approve can follow you, view your videos, LIVE videos, bio, likes as well as your following and followers lists. With a private account, other people won’t be able to Duet, Stitch, or download your videos.
If you have a public account, your profile and videos will be visible to anyone on or off TikTok.
Depending on your Privacy Settings, other people may also be able to Duet, Stitch and download your videos.
Remember, whether your account is private or public, you can always limit the audience for your videos in your Privacy Settings. Regardless of your account type, other people will be able to search for your account, and you can still choose who can comment on your videos, who can send you direct messages, and decide whether your account is suggested to others.
To set your account as private or public:
1. Tap Profile in the bottom right.
2. Tap the 3-line icon in the top right.
3. Go to Privacy.
4. Turn Private Account on or off.
About comments:
You can choose who can comment on your videos in your settings:
In your account privacy settings, you can choose who can comment on your videos:
• Everyone (only for public accounts): If you choose Everyone and you have comments turned on, then anyone can comment on your video.
• Followers (only for private accounts): If you choose Followers and you have comments turned on, only people following you on TikTok can comment on your videos.
• Friends: If you choose Friends and you have comments turned on, then only your friends can comment on your video. Friends are people on TikTok who you follow and who follow you back.
You can also turn off comments on all your existing videos at one time in your privacy settings. This means you don’t have go to each of your videos individually to turn off comments.
You can turn comments on or off for each of your videos:
You can turn comments off or on before you post a video, or for an existing video.
• If you turn comments on: The group you selected in the Who can comment on your video setting for all your videos can comment on this video. For example, if you chose to allow only your Friends to comment on all your videos, then if you turn on comments for a single video, only your Friends can comment on your video.
• If you turn comments off: No one can comment on your video.
Reporting comments:
TikTok is always working to maintain a safe, positive, and friendly community. Learn how to report comments that you think go against our Community Guidelines and block other accounts so they can’t comment on your video. Keep in mind, if you block an account, that person can’t view your videos or engage with you through direct messages, comments, follows, or likes.
If you’re under 18:
Please review the Privacy and Safety settings for users under age 18.
If you would like any further support or advice with anything regarding e-safety, then please don’t hesitate to contact me at school.
Kind regards,
Kris Clark