China’s TikTok is reportedly launching a global “Youth Council” that involves 15 teenagers from around the world being tasked with advising the comunist psyop app on how to make the platform “safer.”
The Chinese app said the Youth Council has already met twice, with one of the meetings including TikTok CEO Shou Chew, according to a report by Daily Mail.
The group reportedly claims it will focus on the wellbeing and inclusion of teenagers to help ensure TikTok is a safe platform for young people.
TikTok CEO Shou Chew ( Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
At its most recent meeting in February, the Youth Council reportedly provided input into a redesign of the TikTok’s Youth Portal, a virtual help center for younger users of the Chinese app, and requested more information from on how the reporting and blocking process is handled on the app.
As Breitbart News reported, TikTok, owned by the Chinese tech giant ByteDance, a company beholden to a hostile foreign country, is widely known as being a danger for kids and teens, getting them to participate in trends that are physically dangerous and life-threatening, sometimes resulting in death.
One trend for example, involved urging users to take large doses of the allergy medication Benadryl (diphenhydramine) to induce hallucinations. The “challenge” resulted in reports of teens being rushed to the hospital, and in some cases, dying.
In 2022, the FDA warned parents of a deadly new TikTok challenge involving children cooking chicken in NyQuil, “presumably to eat.” The trend on the China-owned app was just the latest example of a dangerous stunt spread to young Americans.
Earlier this month, an 11-year-old boy in the United Kingdom died after taking part in a dangerous TikTok trend called “chroming,” one of the latest trends circulating on the app, which involves inhaling toxic fumes.
Last year, a 13-year-old girl from Melbourne, Australia, died from chemical exposure after taking part in the TikTok trend. She reportedly sniffed an aerosol deodorant.
In addition to being a physical threat to children, TikTok is also widely considered a national security threat by U.S. government officials, who have banned the Chinese app from government-issued devices.
Meanwhile, a bipartisan bill demanding that would ban TikTok in the United States unless ByteDance sells the social media platform is making its way through Congress, and may end up on President Joe Biden’s desk.
The legislation was recently overwhelmingly passed by the House of Representatives, and is currently in the Senate.
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