TikTok: With chill music against night-time use by teenagers
TikTok is taking measures to better protect young users. For example, they should sleep at night and not roam through the colorful world of TikTok.
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TikTok has discovered its heart for the protection of teenage users and wants to protect them from themselves in future. In future, teenagers under the age of 16 will see a full-screen relaxation reminder instead of their feed if they use the app after 10 p.m., TikTok wrote in a statement on Tuesday. At the same time, chilled music will be played to motivate young people to sleep.
But TikTok goes one step further: if the young users ignore the message, the app will send another message afterwards. According to TikTok, this should not be so easy to ignore. TikTok wants to expand the new function further. For example, it wants to test the extent to which meditation exercises built into the notice have an effect on young people.
Usage control by parents
However, the relaxation reminder is just one function that TikTok is incorporating to protect younger users. There is also the expansion of "Family Pairing", a tool with which parents can set restrictions for their children's TikTok account. TikTok is introducing a "Time Away" function. This allows parents to restrict the times their children can use TikTok and, for example, set a recurring schedule for when they can use TikTok.
Parents can also see who their child is following, who is following their child and which accounts their child has blocked.
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TikTok also has age verification in mind and intends to use various techniques to prevent children under the age of 13 from using the app. To this end, TikTok wants to use machine learning methods to estimate the age of children. In cooperation with the telecommunications company TelefĂłnica, TikTok also wants to explore how age information held by the telecommunications provider can be used to confirm age.
However, TikTok does not appear to be introducing the new functions entirely voluntarily. TikTok, like other social media, is facing various government regulatory attempts around the world to prevent children from being exposed to TikTok content at an early age.
(olb)
