lamb Dejana Kousal Stanic, whose son has repeatedly been the victim of ridicule and offensive content on the social network Tiktok by his peers, announced that she will launch a petition to ban Tiktok in Montenegro.
The Parents and Experts Association, however, says that this is not a solution, but also that institutions and society must deal with the causes, not the consequences, of violence.
Kousal Stanic is told "Vijesti" that she came up with the idea because her son, who is on the autism spectrum, was once again the victim of ridicule and offensive content on Tiktok last week.
After her daughter learned about the content of the video, she informed the principal of her son's school, who referred her to the police, as she claims the video was not taken on the premises of the educational institution. She did so and says there was no reaction until she shared the experience on social media, after which the police informed her that the case was under investigation. Her son's school informed her that they had interviewed the parents whose child had allegedly made and posted the offensive video.
All of this, she announced, is the reason why she will launch a petition to ban the social network Tiktok in Montenegro, and she claims that she has the support of other parents.
She emphasizes that her son, who belongs to a vulnerable category, has been a victim of digital violence via Tiktok on several occasions:
"I want us all to become aware of the seriousness of this problem and to work together to protect children from cyberbullying."
"I call on all parents, teachers and responsible persons in the community, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare to do everything in their power to protect children and prevent such incidents."
Support for the initiative, but it's not the only channel for online violence
The Parents Association told "Vijesti" that they are familiar with this idea, but that they think that nothing will change if only Tiktok is banned, because they do not see the problem in just one network. If children are banned from Tiktok, they believe, digital violence will not stop, but will instead be transferred to another social network.
"That's hardly going to be a solution. We'll deal with the consequence and not the cause," they emphasize, offering an alternative in line with European Union recommendations - consider banning social media for minors, at least until the age of sixteen, and after that with parental consent.
They are not referring to the existing ban, which applies to children under 13, because anyone can bypass it and enter a false year of birth when registering.
"There should be a system that would include verification, not only of the child but also of the parents. Today, we have various technologies that allow us to identify someone and provide personal documents, as we already do on some social networks," they said.
They believe that this would be much more effective because it has been shown that there are numerous behavioral problems that are not caused by social networks, but are encouraged by everything that happens and is promoted on them.
That Tiktok is not the only problem and culprit is confirmed by the recent case of group and uncontrolled peer violence among high school students in Montenegro via groups on Instagram, according to the Parents' Association. As they explained, violent content and messages were shared in these groups, insulting children from some schools.
They assessed that the state does not sufficiently recognize the problem, because, as they say, it is obvious that there are shortcomings in the relationship with children who do not understand some things, nor have they been taught them by adults.
"They lack empathy, tolerance for other people, and they do not hesitate to abuse the ability to use technology and in this way even affect someone's safety, functioning, and entire life."
When asked whether the Parents Association would support the initiative to abolish Tiktok and share it on their channels, they responded that it was "the least of the problems" because they have so far supported initiatives that involve the growth and development of children, as they generally come from parents.
When it comes to Tiktok, there have been multiple proposals and suggestions from parents to ban Tiktok due to digital violence, but no concrete initiatives.
"We really think that this initiative should apply to everyone, not just one social network, and that we should work on safety in the online world, the importance of knowing technology properly, and the functioning of children, together with parents and teachers, because we as adults have left too much to children and are not following them enough. Maybe we ourselves are not good examples," the Parents Association said, emphasizing that the state and society should address this issue as soon as possible.
Social media is not the cause
Tiktok, and all other social networks, are not the cause of violence, not even peer violence, but a channel of the modern era in which it has expanded and found a new space, form and way to express deviant behavior that is caused by upbringing, personal factors and the influence of the environment in which they grow up. This is confirmed by the fact that peer violence existed even before the expansion of social networks, it was just less visible. One of the reasons is the veil of temporary anonymity that children and young people think protects them from the consequences.
This was told to "Vijesti" by interlocutors from the psychological profession who work with children.
However, social media and the content that children follow and are exposed to can be a trigger for them to start behaving in this way themselves or, in the absence of conversation and education, they lose awareness that it is wrong and instead see it as funny or entertaining.
It is important, they believe, to explain the difference between aggression and peer violence, which manifest themselves differently and have different effects. Aggression results in physical violence and a desire to harm another, while peer violence takes various forms and is prolonged.
They, like the Parents Association, do not see a ban on social media as a solution to the problem of peer violence. In fact, they believe it would have the opposite effect, as it would make children feel more desirable, and that it is “something about them that adults don’t understand.”
When one social network is shut down, another one will appear, even more suitable for spreading controversial content, and children will get used to it much more easily than their parents, believe the interviewees of "Vijesti". That is why it is important to include this topic in everyday education, to talk to children about basic virtues such as empathy, compassion and understanding, and to teach them how to transfer this to the digital space.
Education also plays a major role, they argue, and must be aligned with the modern era in which children are growing up, seeing it as a springboard for raising awareness in society and creating collective values. They also emphasize the role of companies and platforms themselves in combating this problem.
“Technology companies have a responsibility to protect their users, especially children and young people,” UNICEF’s guidelines on digital bullying state.
They say that internet companies are increasingly paying attention to digital violence. Many of them are introducing ways to better protect their users by introducing new tools, guidelines and ways to report online violence. However, companies need to do more and adapt to new developments, they believe.
The 2023 petition is still pending.
A petition called "Let's ban Tiktok in Montenegro" that was launched in 2023 collected just over 6.000 signatures. The reason for this initiative was that the platform had an extremely negative impact on children and young people, as it showed inappropriate content to a huge number of people.
Our youngest children create the same content, the petition description said, in the hope that they will become popular, which is one of the wrong values emphasized on this platform - popularity.
Children should live children's lives, have a childhood, enjoy every day of their lives, and not be "popular" and have role models who can't teach them anything, according to a previous petition.
This petition was launched shortly after the mass crime at the Belgrade school “Ribnikar” that shook the entire region and caused fear among parents, which resulted in similar initiatives and actions when it comes to social networks. Even after almost two years, the parliamentary Legislative Committee has not discussed this petition, although it seems that a new one will soon be on their doorstep. However, other state bodies, such as the Police Directorate, have dealt with Tiktok. The Police Directorate has warned on several occasions about dangerous challenges that are popular on Tiktok, which pose a threat to the health and safety of children. They have dealt with individual cases at the initiative of parents, such as the case of Baranka Kousal Stanić.
The example of Albania
Panic as a call to action also arose in neighboring Albania after November last year when an elementary school student stabbed a fourteen-year-old boy to death in Tirana, and according to media reports about the details of the investigation, they had an argument via TikTok.
In December last year, the Albanian government adopted a one-year ban on the Chinese social network. Albanian Minister of National Education and Sports Ogerta Manastirliu She said that the decision to temporarily ban TikTok was preceded by a conversation with 65.000 parents in the country.
In this way, Albania joined a group of about 20 countries around the world that have banned or in some way restricted the use of this social network owned by the Chinese company "ByteDance". How successful the ban is is left to interpretation, since a simple search on Tiktok can find many videos of Albanian citizens who managed to bypass it, and they are on the weekly list of the most successful TikTokers who record live broadcasts.
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