TikTok is rolling out a new feature to encourage teens to stop using the app at night. If a teen under 16 is still using the app after 10PM, TikTok will interrupt their feed with a full-screen “wind down” reminder, which will play “calming music to help teens relax and be mindful of the time.”
It will display another reminder that’s harder to dismiss if teens ignore the first one. TikTok plans on expanding this wind-down feature in the future, as it’s going to start testing incorporating meditation exercises into the reminder “in the coming weeks.”
TikTok is making some updates to its Family Pairing feature as well, which already lets parents put restrictions on their child’s account. It’s launching a new Time Away feature that will allow parents or caregivers to prevent their child from going on TikTok during specific times, as well as set a recurring schedule. TikTok will also give parents the ability to see who their teen is following, who follows them, and which accounts their child has blocked.
Additionally, TikTok says it will continue to use age assurance technology, including machine learning, to prevent children under 13 from using the app. It’s partnering with the telecom company Telefonica “to understand how people can use age information from their phone provider to confirm their age.” Google also recently announced that it would start using machine learning to estimate users’ ages.
The launch of these new features comes as lawmakers continue to home in on online child safety. Earlier this month, Utah became the first state to pass a law to require app store operators, like Google and Apple, to verify users’ ages when downloading an app. Other state laws have emerged that would block children from accessing social media, but many of them have been blocked by courts.
