Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash
Depending on how young they are, teens on TikTok will not get notifications past a specific time at night. Those between the ages of 13 and 15 won't get push notifications after 9 PM, while those who are 16 or 17 will get their notifications disabled at 10 PM.
The company's global minor-safety policy lead Tracy Elizabeth said, "Our priority is to ensure teens on TikTok have a safe and age-appropriate experience as they create and share on our platform."
I've heard my brother lament about his teenage son being on the app until late into the night, so this feature might prove helpful for them.
Aside from the notification restrictions, TikTok is also releasing other privacy-focused features like:
- Those 16 or 17 will have direct messages set to "No one" by default when they first join TikTok. Those under 16 have messaging disabled. Currently, TikTok's DM settings are set to friends by default.
- TikTok gets new pop-ups designed to inform teens about the apps' privacy settings. When those under 16 publish their first video, a pop-up will ask who they want to make the video viewable.
- Those 16 or 17 will see a pop-up if they enable video downloads. Those under 16 have this feature disabled.
The company has previously made young teen accounts private by default, with public comments blocked on their posts. TikTok has faced accusations of illegally collecting data from kids, which it denies.
Source: 9to5Mac