TikTok has announced a series of changes it says are designed to protect its teenage users’ wellbeing.
Users aged 12-15 will not receive push notifications from 21:00 – and for 16- and 17-year-olds, from 22:00.
This is to help them focus on work, study, relaxation and sleep, the video-sharing app says.
It is also changing its default settings so 16- and 17-year-olds will have to opt in to receive direct messages.
Privacy settings
“We want to help our younger users in particular develop positive digital habits early on,” TikTok said.
The announcement follows YouTube’s introduction of measures to protect children.
A previous announcement from TikTok restricted direct messaging to over-16s only.
Now, for 16- and 17-year-olds, direct messaging will be set to “no-one” by default, meaning “to message others, they will need to actively switch to a different sharing option”.
Existing users will be asked to to review and confirm their privacy settings the next time they send a message.
Additionally, the company says, before they can post their first TikTok, under-16s will now be asked to choose to whom to make their videos visible:
- their followers
- only friends
- just themselves