TikTok can be used by people of all ages, although it does seem to be more popular amongst the younger demographic. So much so that TikTok has since announced that to better protect its younger users, they will be introducing new safety features designed to protect teens while they use the app.According to TikTok, one of those safety features is that those who are 16-17 years old will have their DMs defaulted to “No one”. What this means is that this option basically prevents users from receiving DMs from anyone. Prior to this and for everyone else who are older, the default is set to “Friends”, which means you’ll be able to send and receive messages from people they follow who follow them back.
TikTok will also be introducing some soft curfews to its app, where those aged 13-15 won’t receive push notifications after 9pm, while those 16-17 won’t receive push notifications after 10pm. This does not stop them from using the app, but presumably the idea is that by not receiving notifications, it will make the app less distracting.
That being said, Apple and Google already have some form of parental controls when it comes to iOS and Android, so this will be just additional features on top of that. According to TikTok’s global minor-safety policy lead, Tracy Elizabeth, “Our priority is to ensure teens on TikTok have a safe and age-appropriate experience as they create and share on our platform.”