TikTok is changing its default privacy settings for teens, following criticism from regulators and public interest groups and similar changes at Google and Facebook for their apps. The new features target 13-17 year-olds, in an attempt to raise their awareness on the importance of online privacy. Default settings will become stricter, but they will still have the option to change these, requiring an active choice.
When someone aged 16-17 joins TikTok, their Direct Messaging setting will now be set to 'No One' by default. To message others, they will need to actively switch to a different sharing option. Existing accounts who have never used DMs before will receive a prompt asking them to review and confirm their privacy settings the next time they use this feature. TikTok already blocks direct messaging for under-16s.
To help teens understand the sharing options on the app, TikTok is adding a pop-up that appears when people under the age of 16 are ready to publish their first video. They need to choose who can watch the video and won't be able to publish their video until they make a selection.
With each video going forward, they can decide who can watch before they post. Accounts aged 13-15 are set to private by default, and private accounts can choose to share their content with Followers or Friends, as the 'Everyone' setting is turned off. The Duet and Stitch features are also disabled for accounts under 16.
For 16-17 year-olds, TikTok will also require a decision on downloads. If they opt to turn the feature on, they'll receive a pop-up asking them to confirm that choice before others can download their videos. Downloads are permanently disabled on content from accounts under the age of 16.
Push notifications also will be limited for teens. Accounts aged 13-15 will not receive push notifications from 21.00 hours, and accounts aged 16-17 will have push notifications disabled starting at 22.00 hours.
