TikTok is adding new safeguards to protect teenagers on the app from social media addiction, harassment, and stalking.
Perhaps the most notable tweak is to push notifications. TikTok will prevent them from appearing late in the day for teenage users, citing the need to create “positive digital habits early on.”
“Accounts aged 13-15 will not receive push notifications from 9pm, and accounts aged 16-17 will have push notifications disabled starting at 10pm,” the app said.
Another change involves receiving and sending direct messages. “When someone aged 16-17 joins TikTok, their Direct Messaging setting will now be set to 'No One' by default. To message others, they will need to actively switch to a different sharing option,” the app said.
For existing users in the age group that’ve never used the DM function, TikTok will issue a prompt asking them to review and confirm their privacy settings.
Teens under the age of 16 will also see a pop-up the first time they publish a video on TikTok. It’s designed to let them control which users can see the video and whether comments will be allowed. “They won't be able to publish their video until they make a selection,” TikTok said.
“We're also providing additional context to help teens aged 16-17 understand how downloads work, so they can choose the option that's most comfortable for them,” the app added. “If they opt to turn the feature on, they'll now receive a pop-up asking them to confirm that choice before others can download their videos.”
The changes build on top of earlier safeguards TikTok implemented, which include making accounts belonging to users under the age of 16 private by default. Users under the age of 16 are also barred from receiving direct messages from others.
Expect the newest safeguards to arrive to all teenage users in the coming months.
Earlier this week, Google announced new content settings for search and YouTube, also intended to protect younger users. The move came shortly after Instagram said that those under 16 who sign up for the app will be defaulted to private accounts.