TikTok are announcing new features and technologies that will help their diverse viewership customize preferences in a bid to make the app safer.
TikTok has become somewhat of a goldmine for businesses who use the app to share and grow their audiences but one prominent concern for many users has been how safe TikTok is and how the platform are making the app safer, especially for young people. The good news is that the company recognise this and have began implementing some new tools to keep people safe.
Customizing content
TikTok are making it easier for you to decide what you view on the platform by rolling out a tool people can use to automatically filter out videos with words or hashtags they don’t want to see from their For You or Following feeds.
Diversifying recommendations
TikTok are eager to create an an environment where people can express themselves on a variety of topics, while also protecting against potentially challenging or triggering viewing experiences. TikTok are continuing to work on ways to avoid recommending a series of similar content on topics that may be fine as a single video but potentially problematic if viewed repeatedly, such as topics related to dieting, extreme fitness, sadness, and other well-being topics.
Safeguarding teens
TikTok are working to build a new system to organize content based on thematic maturity. Many people will be familiar with similar systems from their use in the film industry, television, or gaming. In the coming weeks, TikTok will begin to introduce an early version to help prevent content with overtly mature themes from reaching audiences between ages 13-17. When videos containing mature or complex themes are detected, a maturity score will be allocated to the video to help prevent those under 18 from viewing it across the TikTok experience.