In an update, for user privacy and safety, TikTok has announced changes for users who are under 18.
“…..As young people start their digital journey, we believe it’s important to provide them with age-appropriate privacy settings and controls. Today we’re announcing changes for users under age 18 aimed at driving higher default standards for user privacy and safety.”
-TikTok
The app has changed the default privacy setting for all registered accounts ages 13-15 to private. This started yesterday, January 13, 2021.
If the account is private, according to TikTok, only someone who the user approves as a follower can view their videos.
For a safe experience for the apps’ younger users, these are additional changes TikTok is rolling out:
- 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.
Furthermore, TikTok also partnered with Common Sense Networks for the promotion of safe environment for users under 13 for younger users experience.
Source: TikTok
