REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Indonesia Ministry of Informatics and Communication has asked Tik Tok app to raise the age standard of its users and make it friendlier to children. The age standard had so far been set at 12, which is rather strange, as the standard age is usually at 13 or 17, Informatics and Communication Minister Rudiantara said.
Hence, we have asked Tik Tok to raise its age standard," Rudiantara said after a meeting with Tik Tok representatives at his office here on Wednesday.
He noted that he would wait for the realization of their commitment to clear negative contents and would open it immediately after they implement it. "If they can do it tomorrow, we will open it immediately. Our task is facilitating and accelerating and not merely regulating," the minister remarked.
Also read: Govt blocks Tik Tok to protect internet society: Ministry
Senior Vice President for Corporate Strategy, Beijing Bytedance Technology, that controls Tik Tok, Zhen Liu, asserted that the company would consider raising the age standard to 16. In the future, those who wish to join the short video app must provide information on their age and their facial details to the company.
Liu noted that the company would be friendlier to children and sought cooperation from Kominfo (the informatics and communication ministry) for the program.
"We are considering a child-friendly app and would make changes to implement it. We will cooperate with the concerned ministry," Liu revealed.
Tik Tok has 10 million users in Indonesia, and so we will make its contents to have better quality, Liu pointed out.
Ministry Communications and Informatics temporarily blocked Tik Tok on Tuesday (July 3), following a coordination meeting with Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, also with Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI).
Tik Tok was launched in 2016 by Zhang Yiming, who is also the founder of Beijing-based news and information platform Toutiao. The app was brought to Indonesia in September 2017 by tech company ByteDance.
The app allows its users to create short music videos. To create content, users need to pick background music from the app's music library first. After that, the app will record them doing whatever they want to do for 60 seconds. Users can also make their video more interesting by inserting a selection of stickers, filters or effects, like shivering or shaking on it.
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