TikTok has recently faced scrutiny from regulators over concerns safety involving children and teens, in the US and elsewhere . The social network is popular with young audiences, but has been accused of showing teens inappropriate content. TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance , announced that it is now giving parents more control over what their teens can see on the platform . The company is adding new controls that include filtering content to its “Family Pairing” feature . With the new feature, it allows parents to filter videos that contain specific words or hashtags. At the same time, children are notified of changes made by parents.
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TikTok introduced Family Pairing in 2020 to allow parents to connect to their children's/teens' accounts. This allows parents to remotely disable direct messages, set time , and enable a "restricted content" feature. It later added a tool that automatically filters videos containing specific words or hashtags that users don't want to see in their For You or Following feeds.
The new controls essentially combine these two features, giving parents the option to remotely filter videos from accounts their kids’ For You or Following with specific words or hashtags. “We’re bringing this [content filtering] tool to Family Pairing to empower caregivers to help reduce the likelihood that teens will see content that may be upsetting to them,” TikTok wrote.
At the same time, children will be notified of their parents’ selected filters. “By default, teens can see the keywords their caregiver has added, and we believe this transparency can also help foster conversations about online boundaries and safety ,” the company wrote. “We also wanted to ensure that we respected young people’s right to participate.”
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Additionally, TikTok announced that it will form a global Youth Council later this year. According to the social network, the goal of this council isto “listen to the experiences of those who directly use our platform so we can make changes and create the safest possible experience for our community.”
As mentioned above, TikTok has come under fire from regulators for exposing children and teens to videos that promote inappropriate content, such as self-harm, eating disorders, and more. Often, this content is disguised by slightly modified hashtags. The company is facing new content regulations in the UK through the Internet Safety Bill, while US lawmakers are currently working on a Safety that would force social media companies like TikTok to add online safeguards for children.
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TikTok is one of the favorite apps of children and teenagers today. In just a few short years, TikTok has expanded its reach to more than 150 markets and surpassed one billion monthly active users worldwide. It is an app that has created excitement among young people around the world and is loved by both teenagers and young adults, as it offers endless hours of entertainment and new ways to express themselves.
Source: www.engadget.com
