YPF, TikTok hold workshops on internet safety at DU and BU

Popular short video-sharing platform TikTok and Youth Policy Forum (YPF), a knowledge-sharing platform for young Bangladeshis, hosted their second rounds of online workshops on safe internet usage.

The workshops on digital literacy and safe internet usage under the "Safe Internet, Safe You" campaign took place on Sunday, 30 January and Friday, 4 February, in collaboration with the School of Lifelong Learning, University of Dhaka and Barisal University Career Club respectively.

A total of 350 participants joined this workshop from across the country and beyond to get valuable insights about online safety and security, reads a press release.

The four-month campaign titled "Safe Internet, Safe You", by TikTok and YPF is aimed at empowering individuals from various regions of Bangladesh, especially first-time internet users, to access the internet more safely and enlighten them about the various safety features embedded within the application.

Through various engaging quizzes and short sessions in both the workshops, participants were informed about digital literacy, safe internet access and access to justice or cooperation in the digital space. Participants were asked to fill out a pre-evaluation and post-evaluation survey to get a situational analysis.

Participants were also introduced to the general concepts of cyberbullying, phishing, online financial scams etc. They were also informed about how to cope with the effects and instances of cyberbullying or online harassment, adds the statement. 

Pradyut Paul, Youth Policy Forum's grassroots network lead, presented a guideline on internet security. The guidelines include tips and instructions such as how passwords should be complex and how PINs or passwords should not be shared with anyone, not even in games or challenges. 

Pradyut Paul also presented a detailed presentation on TikTok's policies regarding safer internet for all in order to inform the users of its user-friendly guidelines.

The presentation highlighted the overall approach TikTok adopts when formulating policies and community guidelines including law, social values, culture and how the platform enlists the help of regulatory panels, expert panels and various NGOs, including how the platform enforces its Community Guidelines through actions such as removing content and disabling malicious accounts. 

The presentation touched on topics such as violent extremism, violent and graphic content, juvenile safety, unlawful activities and uncontrolled things, suicide, self-harmful and dangerous activities, adult nudity and sexual offenses, hateful behavior, integrity and authenticity, reads the statement.

It also shed light on how TikTok encourages positive interactions by promoting kindness and respect online as well as user-friendly settings and features of the platform such as comment control, time management, blocking and reporting options, direct message control, etc.

The workshops intended to provide a comprehensive understanding of content creation and digital literacy for the participants, as was apparent from the positive feedback received from the participants. Participants admitted that they were not aware of these aspects of TikTok's settings and the community guidelines.

The participants admitted to being previously unaware of many aspects of TikTok's settings. They were also grateful for getting to know the steps that they can take to prevent bullying and other forms of harassment. They mentioned that such workshops will enable them to use TikTok safely, adds the release.

These sessions ended with the online slogan of safe internet access when everyone collectively exclaimed by turning on their cameras—"Safe Ami Digitally."