Teen privacy restrictions on TikTok: duets, downloads
TikTok administration has decided to limit users under the age of 16: now teenagers can only have default private accounts. In this article, we'll walk you through these new and other restrictions that appeared on TikTok in 2021 for minors aged 13-15.
The social network's administration explains the new restrictions, introduced on Jan. 13, 2021, are in an effort to raise privacy and security standards. "As young people start their digital journey, we believe it's important to provide them with age-appropriate privacy settings and controls," the service said in a post on its official blog.
Will all teen accounts become private by default?
As of Jan. 13, 2021, the privacy settings have changed to private defaults for all registered accounts ages 13-15. This means that the accounts of all teens in that age range have automatically become private. Therefore, only those social network users who are their subscribers will be able to see their videos and comment on them.
The Everyone Comment option for teens under the age of 16 has been removed. It is now only available for videos created by users of 16 years old and older.
"We want our younger users to be able to make informed choices about what and with whom they choose to share, which includes whether they want to open their account to public views. By engaging them early in their privacy journey, we can enable them to make more deliberate decisions about their online privacy," the social network explains.
Are there any restrictions on "Duets" for teens?
"Duets" can now only be taken with users over the age of 16. In addition, the option "Suggest your account to others" is also now disabled for teenagers.
Are there any restrictions on video downloads for teens?
All users can now only download videos from TikTok to their mobile devices that are made by people age 16 or older.
In addition, for users between the ages of 16 and 17, the default setting for Duet and Stitch is now set to Friends. That is, for these users, allowing other users to download their videos by default is turned off - but it can be activated if desired.
Note: Previously, parents and caregivers were given the option of restricting teens' activities on TikTok through Family Pairing.
In most countries around the world, TikTok is most popular among users aged 13 and older. In the United States., the social network is available to users under age 13 in a limited TikTok for Younger Users app that offers additional safeguards and privacy protections.
What is a Q&A feature for popular accounts?
TikTok has also created a new question and answer (Q&A) feature that is only available to owners of public TikTok accounts that have at least 10,000 subscribers. Popular video bloggers can now exchange questions and answers in videos, live streams, and text messages.
Q&A function can be activated in the application settings (the corresponding item appears in the menu). Once Q&A is activated, users will see two new tools with which they can ask questions.