TikTok announced on Wednesday its plans to create a tool that will enable parents to restrict their teenagers from accessing content containing specific words or hashtags on the platform. This initiative comes amid ongoing efforts to enhance the company’s public perception amidst rising concerns over user safety.
Owned by the Chinese tech firm ByteDance, TikTok is facing intensified scrutiny on a global scale regarding its ties to the Chinese government and its practices related to user data protection.
The app, which has gained immense popularity among younger audiences, has been prohibited on government-issued devices in the United States, Canada, and several other countries due to security apprehensions.
Similar to other platforms in the social media landscape, TikTok has been criticized for not adequately safeguarding young users from harmful content.
The parental control feature is currently in the developmental phase, with TikTok planning to collaborate with parenting, youth, and civil society organizations for its design, the company stated.
Additionally, TikTok revealed new functionality aimed at helping users better manage their screen time. For accounts belonging to users under the age of 18, a daily usage limit of one hour will be automatically implemented, requiring teens to input a passcode to exceed this limit, according to a blog post from the company.
Should teens decide to remove the daily restriction and use TikTok for over 100 minutes in a day, the app will prompt them to consider setting time limits.
Parents will also have the option to customize usage limits for their teens on specific days of the week, enhancing the control they have over their children’s app usage, TikTok indicated.
In parallel, the US House Foreign Affairs Committee voted along party lines on Wednesday to empower President Joe Biden with the authority to ban TikTok, marking another challenge for the widely-used video-sharing application.
The committee approved the measure with a 24 to 16 vote, allowing the administration to take action against the ByteDance-owned app, which has over 100 million users in the United States, alongside other applications identified as security threats.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
