New York, Jan 11
Most children aged 11 and 12 use Tik Tok, Instagram and other social media despite the platforms’ age restrictions, and many show signs of addiction to social media, a team of researchers have found.
The US Supreme Court is likely to uphold a law that would ban TikTok in the US beginning January 19. TikTok has around 170 million users in the country.
Tik Tok, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat require users to be at least 13 years old to have an account.
But the study found that a majority of 11 and 12-years olds across the country have accounts on the platforms, and 6.3 per cent have a social media account they hide from their parents.
“Policymakers need to look at Tik Tok as a systemic social media issue and create effective measures that protect children online,” said Jason Nagata, a paediatrician at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals and the lead author of the study.