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TikTok users are girls 13 or less who record themselves dancing and lip syncing to their favorite songs, often trying to be the most provocative or daring. Sure, data is hard to find: these apps publish very little data on their demographics and the under-13 segment tends to lie when they register or don’t even have their own profile in the app stores or use devices in their parent or siblings’ name… But in the case of TikTok all you have to do is look at many of its videos. Now, if you put a whole bunch of videos of pubescent girls dancing to their favorite music on a social network with recommendation tools it’s going to become a magnet for sexual predators who are likely to try to contact them through the app’s chat feature; what’s more, it even helps users find videos of a certain type.

The authorities have finally reacted: the FTC has already fined TikTok $5.7 million for storing profiles and personal information of children aged under thirteen without their parents’ consent, as well making those profiles public and even for allowing, until October 2016m to share their location… What could possibly go wrong? Now the UK authorities have begun to investigate TikTok for the same reasons and will surely unearth the same kind of practices. The app has already been banned in Indonesia and India.

Right after being fined by the FTC, the company published a note and updated the app with an age gate: all users will need to verify their age, and the under 13-year-olds will then be directed to a separate, more restricted in-app experience that protects their personal information and prevents them from publishing videos to the platform. Guess what’s going to happen when kids realize that the app does not allow them to publish their videos? Easy as one, two, three: they will simply lie about their age.

Excerpted from an article in Forbes by Enrique Dans