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Simfin

online safety and digital citizenship specialist

Young People News

03 July 2019

Video-sharing app TikTok says it is "sorry" that some children and other young people have felt pressured into sending money to their favourite influencers on the app.

TikTok lets fans send their favourite videomakers "digital gifts", which can cost up to £48.99.

 

'Claire, 12, who lives in the north-west of England, sent TikTok star Sebastian Moy a £48.99 "drama queen" gift to show her appreciation for his videos.'

 

12 years old.

 

The company says it is most popular with 16- to 24-year-olds but there is evidence that many users are under 13, which is against the app's rules.

 

Rhys, 20 said he had spent more than £1,000 without realising it.

"Gifting on TikTok is a little bit like gambling," he said "It gets addictive. I really didn't see anything wrong with it at the time but now I don't think it's worth it.

"I have nothing to show for it.

 

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01 May 2019

From trialling the removal of "likes" from Instagram to taking cues from China's superapp WeChat, Mr Zuckerberg heralded a number of changes to Facebook's broader social network.

Proclaiming "the future is private", Mr Zuckerberg signalled that Facebook's News Feed would be de-emphasised in favour of revamping its messaging app, online marketplace and video-on-demand site.

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11 April 2019

When Amazon customers speak to Alexa, the company’s AI-powered voice assistant, they may be heard by more people than they expect, according to a report.

Amazon employees around the world regularly listen to recordings from the company’s smart speakers as part of the development process for new services

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21 March 2019

Instagram is teeming with these conspiracy theories, viral misinformation, and extremist memes, all daisy-chained together via a network of accounts with incredible algorithmic reach and millions of collective followers—many of whom, are very young. These accounts intersperse TikTok videos and nostalgia memes with anti-vaccination rhetoric, conspiracy theories about George Soros and the Clinton family, and jokes about killing women, Jews, Muslims, and liberals.

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