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To make videos published on TikTok accessible to everyone, the social network announced that the subtitling option would now be automatically activated.
For the audience, nothing changes. But for videographers, there are a few things to know.
Automatic subtitling
Currently, there is an automatic captioning option on TikTok. When a content creator wants to upload their video, they can choose to activate or deactivate these subtitles. But from November, the subtitling option will be automatically activated, without the possibility of deactivating it.
TikTok specifies that it will be possible to modify or delete the subtitles after a video is uploaded, but that the latter will necessarily include subtitles when first uploaded. The social network should therefore have a much larger number of subtitled videos.
While many TikTok creators already caption their videos, in a wide variety of fonts and colors, automatic captions will display in a basic white font that resembles the regular captioning available on television.
Breaking down the language barrier
Audience-wise, nothing changes. The option to turn subtitles on or off is already in the section accessibility parameters. When this new change comes into effect, the selected option will be retained. If you decide you don’t want to see subtitles on a given video, you can tap on them and choose to hide subtitles. Pressing the subtitles button will simply make them reappear.
In its message signaling the novelty to creators, TikTok emphasizes that it places “great importance on improving the user experience and removing language barriers”, specifying that the objective is to ensure that the posted videos can be understood by everyone.
This measure not only improves accessibility for people with hearing impairments, but also opens the videos to people who watch TikTok without sound. The new policy, according to the company, ensures that the app is inclusive and everyone can enjoy it “without language limitations.”
Source: ZDNet.com