The age requirement for the account is more than 13 years but 'five year olds are also on social media'.


A recent report revealed that five-year-olds are also using social media, while the minimum age requirement on most platforms is over 13 years. 


One-third of parents of children between the ages of five and seven revealed that their children had social media accounts, according to an annual report by Ofcom, a UK-based communications watchdog. 

According to the agency, Tik Tok is the most popular platform among children between the ages of eight and 11 who are using social media and one in three children have an account on it.

Remember that you must be over 13 years of age to create an account on Tik Tok. 

A spokesman for the TikTok company said: "We have a system in place to enforce the minimum age requirement for creating an account and running it, and we regularly remove suspicious accounts." 


"There is nothing more important to us than the safety of our community, especially the minors," he said.

Ofcom uses the term 'tik toks' for children using TikTok, and states that 16% of young children between the ages of three and four watch videos on this platform. However, this does not mean that every child has their own account, but it may be that the parents of these children or an adult is showing them these videos.


Ofcom warns that some children are keeping their activities on social media secret from their parents. 



Shocking report 

Yi Chung, research director at the watchdog, said the report's findings were "surprising". "I have an 11-year-old and an 8-year-old child of my own and 60% of their peers have social media accounts, which is amazing to me."

"Big technology companies have a minimum age limit for their customers, but it doesn't seem to be being enforced."


Yi Chung said parents should also know what their children are watching online. 

"It's not usually easy to find out what children are watching, but as parents we have a responsibility to talk to them about our children's activities," he says. 

According to the Ofcom report, 22% of children between the ages of 3 and 4 and 38% of parents of children between the ages of 8 and 11 said that they would allow their children to create a social media account before the age limit for opening an account on social media. Will allow 


Secret account

Some children hide their online activities from their parents by using someone else's account or a fake Instagram account. 

Instagram is a platform for people over the age of 13 with many parental controls.


According to Ofcom's survey, many children create more than one account on the same social media platform.


According to the survey, two out of three children in the age group of eight to 11 years, or 66%, have multiple social media accounts. 46% of them have an account that they can show to their family.

The Ofcom survey found that one in five children between the ages of 12 and 17 surfed the internet anonymously and deleted the history of the video they watched.


Digital residents

According to a recently published online safety bill, all social media platforms that view Adult content are required to block access to inappropriate content for children.

According to the Ofcom survey, a large number of children are already familiar with ways to access the desired content in the face of such barriers. 


According to Ofcom, one in 20 children gain access to a specific app by disabling parental controls. Mr Yi Chung said many children born in the digital age are more aware of technology than their parents.

But most importantly, as parents we need to be aware of the online environment and the tools by which they can monitor their children. In addition, we should keep talking to our children about what they are doing. 

" The Ofcom survey also found some benefits to children's online engagements. 


Fifty-three percent of 13- to 17-year-olds told the Ofcom survey that online engagements are good for their mental health, while 17 percent disagreed. 

The survey found that 70% of adults said they could check for incorrect information, but when they were tested, only 20% of them were able to identify incorrect information, compared to 75% of children between the ages of 12 and 17. Percentage pointed out incorrect information.


Surprisingly, two out of three people surveyed by the regulator ofcom found that they have concerns about the authenticity of what they see online, but there is a problem. 

It is often assumed that they detect misinformation but in reality only one in four people can recognize a fake social media account. So many have failed to recognize. 


Only one in ten young people between the ages of twelve and seventeen could describe the signs of a real post.

It is important to note that the UK is one of the few countries in the world that specializes in the use of technology, but much remains to be done to understand the media.

The online safety bill requires major technology companies to remove harmful misinformation from their platforms and increase the power of Ofcom, but the issue is more complex. 

From the epidemic of Kodak to the war in Ukraine, there is a plethora of misleading information online. So no one should be fooled into believing that the problem can be solved through legislation.


Also read : How many employees have died so far in preparation for the World Cup?


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