debate, debate | TikTok is the relationship we don't want but can't get rid of

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How many parents Green isn’t bothered by TikTok’s massive entry into young people’s lives. Short videos are shown over and over again with everything from dancing to influencers advertising a product. This is what the youth of today watch hour after hour, if they ever get the chance. Social media is a mass proposition today. When sitting in separate rooms with a mobile phone in hand, children and young adults experience the same effect. When a girl living in northern Norway and one in eastern Norway meet in Oslo, they will visit the same cafes and buy the same clothes, because other guys on social media have told them what the coolest thing is now.

This is TikTok is a huge channel of influence, no doubt. 73 percent of young people between the ages of 9 and 18 use the channel, according to the Norwegian Media Authority. By the end of 2022, 1.2 million Norwegians will have users there, including a minister or two.

application We can track our location, access your microphone and camera, and collect data from users. Experts fear that the collection could end up in China’s intelligence apparatus. In recent years, the Chinese-owned app has been accused of censorship and surveillance of journalists, as a propaganda machine for Putin and a threat to international security.

No wonder then That Justice Minister Emily Inger Mehl (Sp) had to answer herself when it emerged she had the app installed on her service phone. We adults, whether we are ministers, bureaucrats, parents or users, beginners. It is necessary to know the usage.

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now Political parties plan to campaign for this year’s municipal elections. Decisions are made on the channels that will be used to reach different groups of voters. Frp wants to ban TikTok for everyone in government agencies and ministries, in line with developments in the European Union, Canada, the USA and Denmark.

Leave He proposes a more moderate line and wants common rules for how parties can use the Chinese app to campaign. A wise proposal that should be approved by Parliament. Social media creates new dilemmas for democracy. An app like TikTok poses a huge security risk, but at the same time it has huge potential to reach younger voters.

Electoral Council In Oslo they have just decided that they will not use TikTok to give young citizens information about elections before this year’s elections, because the app is commercial. When the Electoral Council says they will use Facebook instead, they are dead wrong. If politicians want to actually reach young voters, they need to use the channels that young people use. A channel in which young people are at the same time easy prey for the influence of external forces. Social media are echo chambers, where users get more of what they already like. It increases the chance of further polarization in society and can contribute to the weakening of democracy. The Liberal Party called all parties to a discussion meeting on March 22 about TikTok on the campaign trail. The meeting is an important milestone on the path towards more informed and secure use.

Chinese owned app It takes an increasingly large piece of the pie. China has simply taken the back road to Hamar. The city council was not aware that TikTok would store data in a new data center already under construction. The Ministry of Justice has also not been informed and will now assess the facility.

Norway can say no To be a stockpiling station for TikTok, but society as a whole can’t turn its back on the app. If politicians, parents or educators are not involved in discussing usage and setting the framework, it is like sending an entire generation of young people alone on a train, without a locomotive driver or ticket inspector.

larger community Usage should be discussed, boundaries defined and shared. Just as Skjåk does when he lures young people to the commune this summer with the help of, among other things, TikTok. We shouldn’t block social media, no matter how annoying it may be.

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