TikTok is a social media site that appeared to come from nowhere, and take the world by storm. It is especially popular with young people, whose parents are most likely to be more familiar with social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram. Although TikTok has a lower age limit of 13, evidence suggests that it being used by children younger than that, and a recent survey found that it was being used by 13% of all children aged 12-15 in 2019, which is an 8% increase from 2018. Half of all 10 year olds are now thought to own a smart phone. With parents wanting to keep their children safe, TikTok has now produced a family safety mode, which gives parents a lot of control over what their children see.
For this to work, a parent must have a TikTok account of their own. They can then link it to their child's account, and control different features remotely. Parents will also be able to manage inappropriate content, and prevent their children from seeing it. This "restricted mode" uses an algorithm that once activated, should prevent unwanted material from being seen. Parents will also be able to allow only messages from friends, or switch off messaging altogether. Finally, parents can set a screen time limit, causing the app to shut down, when the time limit for the day has been reached.
In order to access the controls, both the parent and the child, must sit together and open their TikTok apps at the same time. Open the app on both phones, and go to "digital wellbeing" settings, and identify which device belongs to the adult, and which one the child. Scanning a QR from one phone to another, can also link them together. Now that the app knows which phone belongs to the adult, the adult can change all of the settings that they wish, and the child will not be able to undo the final changes made.
TikTok has made the encouraging step of being a member of the Family Online Safety Institute, showing just how dedicated it is to the safety of it's users. The Institiute had this to say, regarding the change in safety settings: "Good digital parenting is to get involved and go online with your kids, and create things together," adding that parent having their own TikTok account is a good thing. They finished by saying "We see this as a step forward for TikTok."