TikTok has changed the default privacy setting for all registered accounts ages 13-15 to private to improve child safety.
TikTok wants its young users to make informed choices about what they share and with whom.
“With a private TikTok account, only someone who the user approves as a follower can view their videos. By engaging them early in their privacy journey, we can enable them to make more deliberate decisions about their online privacy,” TikTok said in a public post on their website.
Additional changes introduced to promote a safe experience for TikTok’s younger users include:
• The application has now made strict options for commenting on videos created by users under the age of 15. These users can now opt between Friends or No One for their account; the ‘Everyone’ comment setting is being removed.
• The application has now made Duet and Stitch features available for content created by users of age 16 and above only. For users aged 16-17, the default setting for Duet and Stitch features will now be set to Friends.
• Allowing downloads of videos that have been created by users 16 and over only. Other users can decide whether they want to allow downloads of their videos, though for users ages 16-17 the default setting will now be changed to Off unless they decide to enable it.
• Setting “Suggest your account to others” to Off by default for users ages 13-15.
