TikTok will introduce a series of new parental control functions to global users including the United States. These functions are collectively called "family matching". Parents can set screen time management, restriction mode and direct message sending control for their young users.
It will now also disable direct messaging for users under 16 years of age in all markets.
TikTok launched a similar set of functions in the UK in February, taking into account European laws and regulations.
These functions are called "home security mode". In order to use the new controls, parents of 13-year-old and younger users can connect their accounts with their children ’s accounts, which requires parents to establish their own TikTok accounts.
This will allow parents to set the time to control their children ’s use of TikTok, control who the teenagers can send messages to directly, and parents can also choose to turn on TikTok ’s “restricted” mode for their children ’s accounts to restrict inappropriate content.
TikTok said that the "restricted" mode is largely based on users marking inappropriate videos they encounter.
This is not the same as parental controls set on video streaming applications, such as Netflix, or restricting children from downloading content from the App Store on their phones.
In other words, some inappropriate content or more adult content may become a fish that missed the web.
TikTok users can set the screen time management and restriction mode through the "Digital Health" of the App, but with the family matching function, parents will be able to set these controls for their children instead of relying on the teenagers themselves.
Before today, TikTok has also provided some controls on direct messages, users can limit the message to only send messages to recognized followers, or disable messages completely.
At the same time, TikTok will also block the pictures and videos in the message to reduce other problems.
