TikTok rolled out parental controls globally last year to help parents make sure their kids have a safe experience on the platform. As part of that effort, the service also introduced Family Pairing, a feature that would let parents customize the safety settings for their children's accounts. That capability gained more enhancements in November of last year, and now TikTok is beefing up its efforts yet again to help protect kids that use its service.
The company announced today that it has joined the Technology Coalition to protect its younger users. The alliance aims to protect children from sexual exploitation, among other forms of abuses. TikTok will collaborate with the organization's board and other committees to advance children protection.
TikTok has resorted to external collaborations in the past to address various issues on the platform. For example, it recently teamed up with the National Eating Disorders Association (along with Instagram) to encourage body inclusivity. For child safety, TikTok also partnered with various organizations to advance this goal including the Family Online Safety Institute, ConnectSafely, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, WePROTECT Global Alliance, DQ Institute, and the Internet Watch Foundation.
The service also reiterated today some of its existing measures meant to protect the youth on its platform. For example, it already sets the accounts of minors aged 13 to 15 years to private by default, and only users aged 16 can live stream and send direct messages. Its membership with the Technology Coalition is a welcome step in that direction.
