TikTok Gives Parents More Control With New 'Family Safety Mode' Feature, Initially Rolling Out in the UK

TikTok wants to make it easier for parents to control how much time their kids spend on the highly addictive app.

By Harpreet Singh | Updated: 20 February 2020 16:51 IST

TikTok Gives Parents More Control With New 'Family Safety Mode' Feature, Initially Rolling Out in the UK

TikTok wants parents to be able to control their kids' activities on the popular app

Highlights

TikTok is highly addictive, especially amongst teenagers
The company is now offering a new parental control in the UK
TikTok's new feature will let parents control their kids' usage

TikTok usage is off the charts, and while content creators and the company behind the app, ByteDance, are having a good time, most parents are concerned. This is primarily because the app is heavily used by teenagers all across the world. While TikTok has built up a moderation system on the backend to prevent inappropriate content from showing up on the app, a lot of people are still concerned about the safety of their kids. TikTok has now introduced more parental controls under a new Family Safety Mode. The feature will initially roll out in the UK.

Parents have always had several settings they could access on TikTok to control usage, but they seemed to be buried inside the app. With the new Family Safety Mode, parents will be able to control how their kids use TikTok, including how much time they can spend on the app.

These new features include a restricted mode to prevent kids from accessing inappropriate content, screen-time management, and a limit on direct messages on TikTok. Parents will need to create their own account on the app to enable Family Safety Mode. This account will be linked to their kid's TikTok account.

TikTok is highly addictive and the company knows it. That's probably why TikTok asked some of its popular creators to make videos, educating users about their safety and health concerns while using the popular social app.

The new Family Safety Mode is currently rolling out in the UK. The company says it will be made available to other regions in the coming few weeks. In a blog post on the company's official blog, Cormac Keenan, Head of Trust and Safety, EMEA, said, "We will keep introducing ways to keep our community safe so they can stay focussed on what matters to them – creating, sharing, and enjoying the creativity of TikTok's community."

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Further reading: TikTok, Parental Controls, Online safety

Harpreet Singh

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Harpreet is the community manager at Gadgets 360. He loves all things tech, and can be found hunting for good deals when he is not shopping online. He has written about deals and e-commerce in India for many years, as well as covering social media and breaking technology news. More