Rage swept Lebanon when news broke out that networks active on TikTok are luring minors to blackmail and sexually assault them. 

When the story first came out in May 2024, security services issued no official statement, except for a brief announcement by the Internal Security Forces (ISF) one day later that “the Cybercrime and Intellectual Property Bureau arrested six suspects in Beirut, Mount Lebanon, and the North, including three minors popular on TikTok.”

Updates had spread even before the ISF statement, as media leakages covered the events and are still looking into the details of the case. No further official statement has been issued.

These leaks raise many concerns, especially as one person who claims to have contributed to exposing this network accused the State Security of lack of cooperation when he visited their office. He also stated that he went to the Juvenile Office in the Public Prosecution in Beirut, provided all the information, but was not met with cooperation.

Shared ResponsibilityThe Digital Safety Helpdesk at SMEX receives a large number of digital threat reports daily. It helps activists, journalists, human right defenders, and marginalized groups who are targets of cybersecurity incidents and threats in West Asia and North Africa.

“Digital safety advice is important and necessary. TikTok provides many features to promote the safety of underage users, such as privacy features, parental supervision, and others,” says the Digital Safety Helpdesk Manager at SMEX, Samar Al-Halal.

“Such features, however, are not enough to protect minors from this kind of blackmail,” Al-Halal warned.

After the name of a member of the gang luring minors was revealed, TikTok suspended his account. Security and law enforcement agencies can, however, still issue an official request to access the content of the suspended account and the messages exchanged from the account for the last 90 days, as mentioned in TikTok’s Law Enforcement Guidelines.

If charges are held against the suspects, they bear primary responsibility for their actions and should be punished solely for them. “Responsibility is also shared by the state and its agencies, TikTok, and the parents of involved minors,” added Al-Halal.

“Parents should be aware of what is happening with their children, and they should provide these children with a safe haven to speak up about such incidents. As for security agencies, they should work on promoting citizen confidence in them, for they bear great responsibility and can arrest the perpetrators.” 

Banning Is Not a SolutionAfter news about the gang spread, certain social media users called for “banning TikTok,” considering the application “a scourge that infects society.”

TikTok assumes a big responsibility in this regard.

“The company that owns the application must protect underage users, who account for the majority of users,” Al-Halal explained. Nonetheless, banning TikTok will not end blackmail, sexual assault, and other crimes, according to Mohamad Najem, Executive Director of SMEX.

“In the nineties, the city of Sidon banned motorcycles, after four judges were assassinated in the city. The ban remained effective for years, but did it stop crimes and assassinations?”

“Banning the application is not a solution. It is unacceptable to blame the application and forget the crime, the criminals, the inaction of judicial and security agencies, and the negligence of parents,” Najem added.

Safety GuidelinesThe Guardian’s Guide in TikTok presents steps that guardians can take to monitor the accounts of their children, especially if they were below 13 years of age. Guardians can link family accounts to “enable and use a variety of content, privacy, and entertainment settings” on their children’s accounts.

Through this linking, parents can add certain protection features to their children’s accounts on TikTok, like making the accounts private, disabling comments on videos, viewing direct messages and searches, limiting daily consumption, and even restricting the account.

All TikTok users can also visit the Safety and Privacy Controls page to control account settings, preferences, and public appearance of the account, determine who interacts with their content, and manage the videos they view on the application.

Contact SMEX’s Digital Safety HelpDeskIf you face any digital attack, please contact SMEX’s Digital Safety HelpDesk. Our team is available daily for help, support, and guidance. 

Signal/WhatsAppText or voice message on+ 961 81 633 133

Emailhelpdesk@smex.org

Picture by AFP.
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