Navigating Parental Duties in a TikTok World, the UK and Nigeria Regulations and the Online Safety Bill

Abstract

According to Ofcom, half of children used TikTok in 2021 and it is the third most used platform behind YouTube and WhatsApp. TikTok is a social media app with one billion monthly active users (Cervi et al., 2022; Dellatto, 2021). installed on devices, 3.5 billion times, available in 154 countries and accessible in thirty-nine languages. TikTok is offered to children of 13 years old (Independent Digital News and Media, 2022; Hoegh, 2022). TikTok was founded in 2018 with a mission to inspire creativity and bring joy (TikTok, 2023). However, its screentime consumption for children has experienced revolutionary change. One in five UK internet users are children according to the UK department for science Innovation and Technology, (2021) most of whom are on TikTok. Children are exposed to over one billion videos on TikTok every day This paper seeks to comparatively investigate the cultural differences, approaches, and challenges to parenting, responsible social media use by children in the United Kingdom and Nigeria (Attrill et al., 2016). To ascertain, whether the existing legal framework is sufficient in enforcing safeguarding measures required of TikTok and other social media platforms.