Exploring children’s TikTok cultures in India: Negotiating access, uses, and experiences under restrictive parental mediation

Abstract

TikTok is a popular platform allowing users to view and make short videos. The platform's embeddedness among youth cultures is key to TikTok’s commercial success, to attract and sustain a diverse array of international users. The discourse around children and social media especially TikTok is laced with technopanics, as is the case in India. Although sparse, literature shows children in India want to explore social media but parental mediation usually follows a restrictive style. Using a qualitative approach and multimodal methods, we unpack how children (10–18 years) in a large Indian metropolitan city use TikTok for self-presentation and creative expression while navigating restrictive parental mediation. This article helps gain in-depth understanding of children’s TikTok cultures in India by foregrounding their voices and contributes to larger scholarship on youth digital cultures by focusing on their: (a) vernacular cultures on TikTok, (b) deliberations on safety and wellbeing, and (c) negotiations regarding agency and resistance.

TikTok and Transparency Obligations in the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) – A Scoping Review

“…The most distinguishing feature of TikTok compared to other platforms is the For You Page (FYP). 43 The FYP is a personalized page offering content based on a selection done through a proprietary algorithm. The page shows and suggests short videos that are attempted to be of interest to the user.…”

“…118 When delving into the discussion about TikTok's security features, it becomes evident that some protections are included in the app -such as making a profile private and the option to block other users. 119 Nevertheless, some authors strongly advocate for enhanced safeguarding of children's privacy, while referencing Article 29 Working Party Guidelines on transparency now relating to EU Regulation 2016/679, also known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). 120 Article 29 Working Party -a body of EU Member State data protection enforcement authorities delivering guidance on privacy issues -specifies in these guidelines that information should be transparent to children.…”

Introduction to the Special Issue of “TikTok and Social Movements”

“…TikTok’s creative affordances powered by artificial intelligence (AI) technologies also facilitate the formulation and development of identity politics and cultures on the platform. Recent examples include Indian children’s creation of their vernacular digital cultures on TikTok against parenteral surveillance (Sarwatay et al, 2022); LGBTQI+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and intersex) users’ use of various filters to advocate for diversity (Simpson & Semaan, 2021); young users’ meme cultures as consciousness building work (Anderson & Keehn, 2020; Literat & Kligler-Vilenchik, 2019; Zeng & Abidin, 2021); and older generations’ collaborations with younger generations (Hood, 2020). Its unique audiovisual memetic cultures also provide a window for people in various fields to build their professional identity (Hartung et al, 2023) and to communicate their knowledge with others in more playful manners (Southerton, 2021; Zeng et al, 2020).…”