“You can’t let the fire go out. He’s like a son,” says one teen TikTok influencer. He wonders: “There are people who let the fire go out… How can that be?”
Experts view fireworks, a TikTok feature that has become popular this year, as a powerful element in encouraging children and teens to become addicted to the app. This is one of the notes in the statement sent last week to the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) against TikTok by Instituto Alana, an NGO that defends children and adolescents.
The document contains 81 pages Bound Access, brings a detailed survey with research on how the design of this social network encourages compulsive use and generates a cascade of harm to physical and mental health, especially among young people.
For those who don’t know, a TikTok fire works like this: The user requests via message that a friend help them keep the fire burning. The more messages and interactions between the two, the more the fire grows brighter and changes color. When the fire is strong, virtual pets appear, and in order to keep them alive and happy, you need to exchange messages frequently. A day without interaction “freezes fire” that can disappear and endanger the “life” of virtual pets. “Nice” characters cry if there are no messages.
the Bound I found many videos from influencers with teens and kids teaching how to keep the fire burning. The platform was contacted through the press office on Monday afternoon (the first), but did not respond until Tuesday evening (the second).
Alana’s report to MPF states that the Fire feature creates pressure to use the platform frequently, “creating a sense of obligation.” He says that the fact that fire is shared between two people means that the user can feel accused and judged by the other when they do not interact, which generates anxiety and encourages coercion.
Citing studies, the document states that other features of TikTok’s design also contribute to addiction. Among them are infinite scrolling, which reduces the perception of time passing, automatic video reproduction (autoplay), the format of short videos displayed in full screen, which increases immersion and makes interruption difficult, and an algorithm that is very effective in user retention and increasing usage time.
A series of data shows the prevalence of TikTok in childhood and adolescence. Even among children. In Brazil, 14% of users are between 0 and 3 years old — such early use can contribute to speech delay and permanent cognitive damage, according to research cited by Alana. The proportion of users increases with age (data from the Panorama survey – Children and Smartphones 2024, shown in representation). From 10 to 12 years, for example, it is 42%. From 13 to 16, usage reaches 62%.
The actor argues that there is already a strong legal framework in the country to regulate TikTok, even before the ECA digital law came into force in March – and the new legal framework, approved this year, strengthens protections for children and teenagers in the online environment, with more restrictions on the platforms. According to Alana, the actions of the social network violate the protection of children and adolescents established by the Constitution itself, the ECA (Essential Act on Children and Adolescents), the Consumer Protection Act and the LGPD (General Data Protection Regulation).
said João Francisco Coelho, lawyer for the Alana Child and Consumer Programme Bound The Federal Public Ministry has initiated an administrative procedure specifying that the measures adopted by platforms to comply with the Digital ECA will be monitored by the Authority.
Alana requests that ByteDance Brasil, the company responsible for TikTok in the country, be summoned by the Public Ministry to clarify, among other points, the parameters of its algorithms and provide internal studies on the platform’s impact on children and adolescents.
It also calls for the adoption of “financial and non-financial measures to repair the damage already caused” to this public “in an amount commensurate with the damage caused.”
Last year, the federal government required TikTok to create mechanisms to block access by children. Although according to the official rules of the platform, only users over 13 years old can register, there is no age verification tool. Moreover, there was the possibility of accessing the feed without having to register. The decision was taken by the ANPD (National Data Protection Authority). Broadcasting without registration has been abolished, but age verification is still not possible – and ECA Digital makes this control mandatory.