Teens participate in online challenges, hoaxes for views and to impress peers, TikTok report finds

Teenagers say they participate in online challenges and hoaxes – some of which can be harmful and dangerous – for views, likes and to impress others.

That’s according to a new study published Wednesday, that was commissioned by the social media platform TikTok and conducted by Praesidio Safeguarding, an independent safeguarding agency.

A total of 5,400 teens aged 13 to 17 as well as 4,500 parents of teens and 1,000 educators in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Germany Italy, Indonesia, Mexico, the U.S. and Vietnam were surveyed by The Value Engineers a brand consultancy firm, for a total sample size of 10,900 people.

The report, authored by Zoe Hilton, looked into how big of a problem dangerous and online challenges and hoaxes are, what drives teens to participate in them, the information teens need in order to stay safe, and how adults can talk to children about them.

Here’s a closer look at the report’s key findings:

ONLINE CHALLENGES USED FOR VIEWS, COMMENTS

According to the report, online challenges involve people recording themselves doing something difficult or risky, and then posting it online for others to repeat.

A well-known example is the “ice bucket challenge,” which was shared online to raise money for ALS research.

“Challenges can be fun and safe,” the report reads. “But they can also be risky or dangerous, which could lead to physical harm.”

The survey found awareness of all online challenges was high among teens, parents and teachers.

Seventy-three per cent of teens said they were aware of online challenges, while the same percentage of parents (73 per cent), and 77 per cent of teachers said they were.

The overwhelming majority of teens (83 per cent) said they became aware of online challenges via social media. That number dropped to 76 per cent among teachers, and only 68 per cent of parents said they saw challenges on social media.

The survey found, however, that most teens are not participating in challenges. Only 21 per cent of teens said they participated in an online challenge of any type.

Further, only two per cent of teens said they had taken part in a challenge that they would consider to be risky or dangerous.

The number dropped even further to 0.3 per cent when they considered the challenged to be “really dangerous.”

Asked to rank why teens take part in online challenges, 50 per cent cited gaining views, comments and likes was a top reason. Forty-six per cent of teens included impressing others was one of their top three main reasons.

Sixty-six per cent of teens said they had sought advice and support from an adult regarding online challenges.

However, 34 per cent of parents and 29 per cent of teachers said it is difficult to talk about challenges for fear of prompting interest in them.

Forty per cent of parents and 31 per cent of teachers said they would not name a challenge unless a teen brought it up first. What’s more, only 48 per cent of teachers said they felt schools were “dealing well” with these challenges.

“This demonstrates a significant gap around the topic that needs addressing with clearer and more specific guidance about when it is appropriate to name and discuss challenges and how to do so in practice,” the report reads.

DANGEROUS HOAXES AND MENTAL HEALTH IMPACT

The study refers to “hoaxes” as a subcategory of online challenges, which include fake suicide or self-harm challenges.

“Hoax challenges propagate the falsehood that there is a bad actor directing users (usually children) to carry out a series of harmful activities which escalate, ending in self harm or suicide,” the report reads.

The study said hoaxes can be “quite extreme,” as they are “created to cause panic.”

The survey found awareness of hoaxes was high among teens, parents and educators.

Eighty-one per cent of teens said they were aware of hoaxes, while the same percentage (81 per cent) of parents said they were aware. Eighty-four per cent of teachers were aware of such online hoaxes.

The survey data also showed teen respondents said hoaxes had a more negative impact than challenges online:

• A total of 63 per cent of teens said hoaxes had negatively impacted their mental health.

• But, only 22 per cent of teens agreed that sharing a hoax online is harmful.

Asked to rank why they would share or repost a hoax, 63 per cent of teens ranked getting attention from others as a top reason, while 60 per cent said it was because they didn’t realize it was fake. Thirty-seven per cent said they shared it to protect others from it.

However, teens were less likely to seek support from trusted adults regarding hoaxes, with only 46 per cent saying they had sought out support.

What’s more, 56 per cent of parents said they would not mention a specific hoax unless their teen did first.

Further, while 56 per cent of educators said they were “extremely concerned” about hoaxes, only 33 per cent agreed that schools provide helpful tools to help teens deal with hoaxes.

WHY DO TEENS TAKE PART IN ONLINE CHALLENGES?

Asked why teens may be drawn to these online challenges and hoaxes, Dr. Richard Graham, a clinical child psychiatrist who specializes in healthy adolescent development, and who participated in the study, said children in their teenage years are developing physically, but also mentally and emotionally.

“Young people are developing in terms of abstract thinking, the recognition of more complex psychological [and] emotional states and a more sophisticated consideration of relationships,” he told a press briefing. “So there’s a lot going on, but they’re not just interested in themselves, they’re interested in the world around them and everything in it. So they do, sometimes, have this desire to understand better.”

He said this includes trying to understand some of the more difficult things in life, including the concept of self-harm.

Graham said they have the desire to learn coping strategies and become more resilient.

He said, though, sometimes teens can “bite off more than they can chew,” and might accidentally expose themselves to something that could be a bit distressing.

Graham said having an adult who can “sort of help and kind of be there to catch them if they find something to difficult, that they can be honest about how they’re feeling and be supported in trying to make sense of some of these things that are more complex” is very important.

Asked what stakeholders can do differently when it comes to teens and online challenges and hoaxes, Dr. Gretchen Brion-Meisels, a behavioural scientist who specializes in risk prevention in adolescence, said it is “critical” that we take young people’s desires seriously.

“[And] talk openly with them about what those desires are and to partner with them in thinking about the different options they have for navigating these complex relational and social media spaces,” she told the press briefing.

Brion-Meisels said research has proven that effective strategies are those which include input from and are developed alongside young people, and are delivered in a peer-to-peer manner.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

Included in the report are a number of recommendations for social media platforms, teachers, parents, schools, NGOs, mainstream media and more, in relation to dealing with online challenges and hoaxes.

Those recommendations include, but are not limited to:

• Offering clear public messaging about hoax challenges that is informed by prevention science, and explains how they work and how people can protect themselves and others.

• Ensuring that it is clearly explained that the narratives perpetuated by “hoax challenges” are lies purposely trying to cause fear and panic, and that engaging with hoax challenges could bring teens into contact with individuals who want to exploit or harm them.

HOW TIKTOK IS RESPONDING

In order to address some of the report’s findings, TikTok says it has worked with experts to develop a new resource for its Safety Centre dedicated to challenges and hoaxes.

“This includes advice for caregivers that we hope can address the uncertainty they expressed about discussing this topic with their teens,” a news release reads.

The platform also said it also worked with experts to improve the language on the warning labels TikTok users encounter when searching for content relating to harmful challenges or hoaxes.