TikTok said on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, that it is developing a tool that will allow parents to prevent their teenage children from viewing content that includes certain clips or hashtags in the application to which short clips are posted, as the problematic application seeks to improve its public image.
The TikTok application, owned by the Chinese technology company ByteDance, is facing new scrutiny and review processes at the global level due to its closeness to the Chinese government and in order to protect user data.
The app, which is gaining popularity among young people, has been banned from government-owned cell phones in the United States, Canada and other countries due to security concerns.
Like other social media apps, TikTok has also faced criticism for not doing enough to protect teens from exposure to inappropriate content.
The TikTok application said that the development of the parental control feature is still in its early stages, and the application will consult family, youth and civil organizations in the design stage of the tool.
The app also announced new features to help users limit the amount of time they spend browsing the app.
The application said in a blog that an automatic time limit will apply to user accounts under 18 years of age by one hour per day, and teenagers will need to enter a secret code to continue browsing the application.
And if teens opt out of the daily time limit and browse TikTok for more than 100 minutes a day, the app will display an alert urging them to set time limits.
The app said that parents will now also be able to set time limits for their teenage children to use TikTok for each day of the week.
