TikTok still filled with creepy comments underneath videos of school kids singing and dancing 

THE wildly popular TikTok app has been branded a “magnet for paedophiles” after a Sun Online probe uncovered dozens of perverts targeting young kids singing and dancing. TikTok, which lets users create and share short videos with music and camera effects, is the world’s most downloaded app, more popular than Facebook and Instagram. In February […]

THE wildly popular TikTok app has been branded a “magnet for paedophiles” after a Sun Online probe uncovered dozens of perverts targeting young kids singing and dancing.

TikTok, which lets users create and share short videos with music and camera effects, is the world’s most downloaded app, more popular than Facebook and Instagram.

In February we reported how kids as young as eight were being targeted by predators and bombarded with sexually explicit messages on the app.

In the same month TikTok was told to pay about £4.3million to settle accusations that it violated children’s privacy law.

In response to our previous findings TikTok insisted safety was their “top priority” and introduced a number of features to give people more control over their accounts and content, including a “digital well-being” function.

However our new investigation found kids, often dressed in their school uniform, are STILL being targeted with creepy messages underneath videos of them performing to music.

CREEPY COMMENTS

Underneath a video of two schoolgirls dancing in their uniform, one user wrote: “I wouldn’t be able to control myself if I was in this class.”

Another said: “Both of you can get it.”

Posting under another video of two teen girls, a user wrote: “Guys…in five years…maybe!”

Commenting on a video of a schoolgirl cleaning a mirror, one user wrote: “I got something you can polish.”

Others posted comments too graphic for The Sun Online to publish.

Mum-of-two Carolyn Wilkins, 39, said she was “shocked” when she saw our evidence.

Carolyn, whose 12-year-old daughter Izzy uses the app, told Sun Online: “I think it’s an unsafe app.

“Young girls are doing very inappropriate videos which they should not be doing at that age. I was shocked by that.

“It is a magnet for paedophiles because it’s not policed and anyone can sign up for it.

“If kids on there are not savvy enough, they will respond to people trying to engage in conversation with them.

“I see it as a direct way for people of that nature to get in because it’s not secure in anyway.”

She added: “I can’t see how they can police it.

“Luckily myself and my husband have quite a good relationship with our daughter, who is 12, and she often sits with me and I have a look at these things on TikTok.

“Some of the things people on there are doing are very inappropriate…girls that are around our daughter’s age.”

In another video, of a young girl stretching, one disturbing  user wrote: “Who else got repetitive strain injury of the thumb trying to pause this?”

Another said: “You are so f***ing cute.”

In another video showing two young girls on a bed, one person wrote: “You both could get it” while another said: “I could treat you right.”

In another video, a creepy user wrote: “Why’d you pull your top up for!!!???”

Meanwhile one user told a girl: “I would love for us to get together soon I will be Santa and you Mrs Clause…oh by the way I’m Luke.”

‘BE VERY CAREFUL’

TikTok, which has been downloaded more than a billion times in 150 countries, is labelled on the app store as being for those aged 12 and over. But it’s simple for users to lie about their age.

Once logged in with an account, users can then post videos of themselves which are broadcast to other people – any of whom can then message the person directly.

Emily Steers and Lauren Kearns, from Northamptonshire, are both 15 years old. Together, they run a TikTok channel with more than a million followers.

Emily’s dad Mark said: “[Some of the messages] are a bit worrying. When they do catch people saying bad things or sexual things, they [TikTok] should have the power to block them or actually take them away straightaway.”

Another concerned parent, Nigel Wharton, said: “I checked my 10 year old son’s account and found five private messages from adults…one telling him they love him.

“I reported all of them, took screen shots and deleted the app. Be very careful parents.”

KIDS GROOMED

Meanwhile gran Michaela Clark, 50, from Derbyshire, was shocked when she learned her granddaughter Grace, ten, had been groomed on the site.

She told the Sun Online: “She’d been entering private chats with someone who’d claimed to have known her.

“He threatened to come to her house and take her if she didn’t do certain things.

“It just makes you want to scream out to people. What appears to be an innocent site where she’s making music videos and sending them to her friends is a site with nasty people on.”

“Grace’s mum Jemma was horrified. It’s really, really sad. It needs highlighting to everyone out there.”

TikTok user Liz W, 18, who goes by the name @bitheoji on the app, explained how the app plays into the hands of predators.

She said: “If some creepy guy just keeps liking videos of younger girls doing similar audios or soundtracks or hashtags, those are going to keep coming up on his ‘For You’ page.

“So it’s easier for him to find more victims. And I think that’s what makes it so easy for predators to come on it and victimise young children.”

The French vlogger Le Roi des Rats said predators “do not hide at all”.

He said: “When a young girl dances in skimpy clothes or imitates sexy dances, you’re sure to find people in the comments either asking them to continue making these kinds of videos, saying they’re sexy or asking for their Snapchat or DM [to direct message]. Some of these girls are not even ten years old.”

‘MAGNET FOR PAEDOPHILES’

Campaigners have also warned of the risks of young people falling prey to paedophiles on the app.

Andy Burrows, NSPCC head of child safety online policy, told the Sun Online: “Serious questions need to be asked about TikTok’s moderation practices if users are able to freely post sexually suggestive comments to children.

“This is exactly the sort of content which needs to be targeted and removed but clearly that is not happening.

“Social media self-regulation has demonstrably failed and it’s time for the new Government to urgently bring in laws that force platforms to have a legal duty to keep children safe.”

Javed Khan, chief executive of Barnardo’s, said: “Without the right security settings, children broadcasting live video of themselves in their bedrooms over the internet could be targeted by abusers.”

John Carr, one of the UK’s leading experts on child online safety, warned: “There’s no question an app like this is a magnet for paedophiles.”

Last month 11-year-old girl Lakerika McNeal, from Memphis, Tennessee, went missing after leaving her house to meet with a man she met on TikTok.

Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal reported that ISIS militants were posting twisted jihadi propaganda on the site.

The now-removed videos featured corpses being paraded through streets, IS singalongs and fighters posing with guns, all aimed at enlisting impressionable youngsters.

TIKTOK RESPONSE

In response, the app said safety was its “top priority”.

A spokesman told the Sun Online: “We have investigated the comments and swiftly removed those that violated our community guidelines.

“We deploy a combination of policies, technologies and moderation strategies to detect and review problematic content and comments and implement appropriate penalties.

“We have also introduced a range of measures to better safeguard our users, including: comment filtering to allow users to choose and automatically hide certain words from appearing in their comments; prompting users under 18 to make their account private at set-up; and enabling users to make their account private at any time.

“We also encourage users to report any inappropriate content they see on the platform using our reporting function.

“While these protections won’t catch all instances of misuse, we’re committed to improving and enhancing our protective measures and using learnings like these to continuously hone our moderation efforts.”