I just deleted TikTok and made my kids delete it too. I had ChatGPT summarize the new Terms & Conditions—and what it allows them to collect, track, and control is honestly disturbing. We hand these apps our kids’ faces, voices, habits, and private lives without realizing what we’re agreeing to. Read the fine print. Then decide if a dance app should own your family’s data.
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I get the concern—but this goes a bit too far. TikTok isn’t doing anything radically different from Meta Platforms or Google. All these platforms collect data to run their algorithms—that’s the modern internet.
Saying a “dance app owns your family’s data” isn’t quite accurate either. You’re granting usage rights, not handing over ownership. The real issue isn’t TikTok—it’s that every free app runs on your data. For kids, limits and awareness make sense. But banning one app while using others? That doesn’t solve the bigger problem.
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I see your point—but I’d still push back a bit. While it’s technically true users don’t “lose ownership,” the practical reality is different. If an app can store, analyze, and indefinitely use behavioral and biometric signals, that’s a level of control most people don’t fully understand when they tap “agree.”
And with kids, the stakes are higher. They’re not just using the app—they’re being shaped by it. Early data profiling + highly optimized algorithms = long-term influence, not just entertainment. So yes, all platforms collect data—but dismissing concerns as “it’s all the same” oversimplifies it.
Sometimes drawing a hard line—even with just one app—is less about perfection and more about setting a standard.