TikTok will implement new security measures to protect teenagers’ privacy.
Private messaging, push notifications and video privacy settings are some areas of the app that will change its dynamics to improve the experience for young people.
New TikTok changes to protect teens
TikTok in the coming months will begin implementing a series of changes to the accounts of users aged 13 to 17. These measures are designed to protect the privacy of teenagers and improve the experience on the platform.
One of the changes that will be implemented in TikTok has to do with direct messages. When a teenager creates an account on TikTok, they will find that the direct messaging option is disabled, as “No one” will be set as the default option.
Other details they have taken into account is to help those under 16 years of age to configure the privacy of their videos. So the first time they post a video, they will see a pop-up asking them to set “Who can see the video” so that they become familiar with this setting and know that they have different options to keep their posts private.
For 13 to 15-year-old accounts have this setting set to private by default. And the changes will also apply to video downloads. For 16 and 17-year-old teen accounts, their video downloads will be disabled by default, with the option to change the setting at any time. But for those under 16, their video downloads will be permanently disabled.
And there will also be changes to how push notifications are displayed to teens. They want to reduce the time they expose young people to constant notifications, so the proposal will be this:
13- to 15-year-old accounts will not receive push notifications from 9 p.m., and 16- to 17-year-old accounts will have push notifications turned off from 10 p.m.
All these measures will be implemented on TikTok over the coming months.
