TikTok has expanded parental controls and well-being tools designed to help families have healthier digital habits for teens.
These new features are based on feedback from families, as well as guidance from leading experts.
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“We build the strongest safeguards into teen accounts by default to help ensure young people have positive experiences on our app and to give parents peace of mind,” Adam Presser, Head of Operations & Trust and Safety said.
TikTok New Features
The primary new feature, Time Away, extends to the existing Family Pairing to give parents a method to restrict their teens from using TikTok during designated times.
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The parents can establish a recurring schedule, and teens can request additional time, but parents have the final say.
Additionally, a function that enables parents to view who their teen is following, who follows them, and which accounts their teen has blocked has been added.
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If a teen under 16 uses the app past 10 pm, the feed will be disrupted by a new wind-down feature that takes over the full screen with meditative prompts.
Consequently, if the teen remains on the app after the first reminder, a second, more prominent full-screen prompt shall appear.
TikTok will test meditation exercises within the feature, as research shows that mindful meditation can improve sleep quality.
Also Read: TikTok to Ban Filters for Specific Users
Other Measures for Teens aged 13-17 years
Moreover, daily screen time is set by default to 60 minutes which helps young people to be intentional about the time they spend on TikTok.
Hosting LIVE content is not permitted, while teens can watch LIVE content, they will not be able to host a LIVE.
There will be no financial transactions, teens can not send or receive virtual gifts or buy or sell products on TikTok Shop.
Also Read: TikToker Bashes Kenyan TV Stations for Ignoring Content Creators
Restrictive Measures
Accounts are private by default, this limits who can follow the account, view their videos, read their bio, and interact with their videos.
In addition, there will be no direct messaging. Direct messaging is only available to accounts 16 and older.
Friends-only comment settings, even with a public account, teens under 16 cannot change their comment permissions to allow ‘Everyone’ to comment on their content.
Teens will not download videos. This control is set to Off by default and cannot be changed, even if a teen chooses to have a public account.
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