Tiktok for children and minors: how to protect accounts

TikTok is making changes to the security and privacy policy in children's accounts as, according to the platform, “we train our community with a variety of controls to manage their online presence. As young people begin their digital journey, we believe it is important to provide age-appropriate privacy settings and controls. '

These changes will take effect for any user accounts they have less than 18 years, mainly those between 13 and 15 years, applying important adjustments in the way of interacting with the application.

TikTok for children and minors: how to protect accounts

New "improved" privacy features for young people on TikTok

These changes, which were announced by the social network, include a set of "improved" privacy settings, which aim at limit functions and change some default settings within the application.

As expressed by the platform itself, «the further changes we are implementing to promote a safe experience for our younger users». Among the novelties stand out:

New bans on TikTok for minors

• Enhance options for commenting on videos created by 13-15 year olds. These users can now choose between friends or none for their account; everyone's comment settings will be removed.
• Change the Duet and Stitch settings so that these features are now only available for content created by users aged 16 and over. For users aged 16-17, the Duet and Stitch defaults will now be set to Friends.
• Only allow downloads of videos created by users over the age of 16. Other users can decide if they want to allow their videos to be downloaded, although for users aged 16-17, the default will now change to 'disabled' unless they choose to enable it.
• Set 'suggest your account to others' to 'off' by default for users between the ages of 13 and 15.
• Restrict live messaging and live streaming hosting to accounts aged 16 and over.
• Restrict the purchase, sending and receiving of virtual gifts to users over the age of 18.
• Enable parents and caregivers to set up security measures for their teen's TikTok experience through our 'family matching' features.

All of these changes in privacy regulations can have a negative impact at first within this younger audience, especially in users aged 16-17, as these drastic changes will undoubtedly affect how they interact with the app. .

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Likewise, more users "Veterans" could be affected in their scope and projection within the social network. Because? Basically because they come limited in their visibility, not appearing in the "For you" section, limitations in the performance of duets and other aspects.

Partnership with Common Sense Network to enhance the experience

In association with The Common Sense Network, the social network aims to create a new viewing experience that works for users under the age of 13, who in the United States are those who have undergone the greatest changes within the application.

As they explain, “This experience allows users to browse a select library of age-appropriate videos and today we are pleased to announce a partnership with Common Sense Networks as we continue to improve this experience. Through our partnership, Common Sense Networks will provide further guidance on the suitability of content for children under 13 as we work to create a safe and enjoyable viewing experience ”.

This is closely related to a report presented by The New York Time in 2020, which showed that around a third of the platform's users in the United States would be audiences under the age of 14.

TikTok's new restrictions allow minors to browse safely

Likewise, Eric Berger, CEO of Common Sense Network, said “We couldn't be more pleased to partner with TikTok to develop better content experiences for users under the age of 13. At Common Sense Networks, we see this commitment as an opportunity to redouble our commitment to increase the quality of digital technology for children. it means that age-appropriate content is the rule in our industry, not the exception. '

Since 2020 we have seen how the platform has implemented important changes in these aspects, starting from allow parents of teenagers di to establish at a distance restrizioni on children's accounts, as well as giving them the ability to change the configuring the privacy of your children.

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In this way, TikTok continues to add more features of privacy control for user accounts under the age of 18, all with the aim of providing a more pleasant and above all safe experience.

For more information | TikTok News

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