In a bid to ensure the safety of its teenaged users, TikTok will now be banning anyone under 16 years of age from sending or receiving direct messages. Given that 13% of TikTok’s users are between 12-15-year-olds, the short video content platform will be introducing a new set of parental controls globally.
The set of controls will be called “Family Pairing”, which will allow parents to customise the features on their kids’ profiles for added safety. The new controls help limit screen time, restrict certain features and stop the direct messaging function on the app. Users can still share videos and comment on other’s content.
The worldwide roll-out of the new parental control features will only happen in the coming weeks.