News

TikTok makes all under-16 accounts private to improve child safety

In a welcome move for the safety and privacy protection of the app’s youthful users, TikTok has officially changed the default privacy setting for all registered accounts ages 13-15 to private.

As reported by The Express Tribune, the Chinese social media platform wants its young users to make informed choices about what they share and with whom. In a public post on its website, TikTok stressed that it wanted to enable its younger users to make “more deliberate decisions” about their online privacy as early in their online journey as possible.

With a private TikTok account, only someone who the user approves as a follower can view their videos. By engaging them early in their privacy journey, we can enable them to make more deliberate decisions about their online privacy,” the company said in its post.

Aside from making under-16 accounts private by default, the following are some of the other changes TikTok is introducing in order to make the platform a safer space for children and young teens:

  • Tightening the options for commenting on videos created by those ages 13-15. These users can now choose between Friends or No One for their account; the Everyone comment setting is being removed.

 

  • Changing Duet and Stitch settings to now make these features available on content created by users age 16 and over only. For users ages 16-17, the default setting for Duet and Stitch will now be set to Friends.

 

  • Allowing downloads of videos that have been created by users 16 and over only. Other users can decide whether they want to allow downloads of their videos, though for users ages 16-17 the default setting will now be changed to Off unless they decide to enable it.

 

  • Setting “Suggest your account to others” to Off by default for users ages 13-15.

 

Back in April 2020, TikTok made a similar attempt towards improving the safety of its young users by introducing Family Pairing, a feature that allows parents and caregivers to regulate and oversee their child’s TikTok experience.

Sponsored
Hamza Zakir

Platonist. Humanist. Unusually edgy sometimes.

Share
Published by
Hamza Zakir

Recent Posts

Yahoo Surprises Users with Its Latest Android Launcher

Third-party apps have long been a staple of the Android ecosystem, but their appeal has…

56 mins ago

Phase-II Review of PTCL-Telenor Deal Finalized by CCP

ISLAMABAD: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has completed its Phase-II review of Pakistan Telecommunication…

1 hour ago

Xiaomi’s SU7 Achieves New Production Record, Driving Q3 Growth

Xiaomi has shattered records by producing 100,000 vehicles in just 230 days. This is nearly…

2 hours ago

Teachers Can Now Access OpenAI’s Free AI Course

OpenAI, in collaboration with nonprofit organization Common Sense Media, announced on Wednesday the launch of…

3 hours ago

WhatsApp-Inspired Updates Under Testing in Google Messages

Google is exploring a revamped image-sharing interface in its Messages app, taking cues from WhatsApp…

4 hours ago

Create AI Video Backgrounds with YouTube Shorts’ Dream Screen

When it comes to online video streaming, YouTube is among the most well-known options. Every…

4 hours ago