This message will automatically appear after one hour of viewing for all TikTok users under the age of 18. TikTok
By default, all users under the age of 18 will have their browsing terminated after one hour. Parents will be able to set daily limits and will receive a dashboard.
“For your well-being, your daily screen time has been set at one hour“. This message, which occupies three-quarters of the smartphone screen, will appear in the coming weeks on TikTok for all of its users under the age of 18. It will stop browsing as soon as teenagers have watched more than one hour of videos in the same day.
This does not mean that access to TikTok will be blocked. The teenager will be free to continue viewing by entering a password. But if he exceeds 100 minutes of connection per day, TikTok will encourage him to set a daily screen limit on his own. According to in-app testing, these awareness messages have led to a 234% increase in the use of these tools, which appear in the app’s settings but are often ignored.
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A response to criticism
With this feature, TikTok intends to respond to recurring criticism from parents, regulators, researchers and elected politicians about the power of attraction of its service among the youngest. It’s hard to get away from this continuous stream of short videos that adapt to the tastes of the Internet user… “TikTok, for us, is a bit like tobacco for the older generation. We try to pick up, but we last a week“, affirmed a few weeks ago to the Figaro Louise, 17 years old.
Charlotte Caubel, Secretary of State for Child Protection, hopes that the TikTok ads “will inspire other platforms” because they “are going in the right direction.” Nevertheless, “they do not respond to all of our concerns, particularly with regard to the protection of user data and the content of content accessible to our children. The Minister responsible for the Digital Transition, Jean-Noël Barrot, adds that “this default limitation is a breakthrough that was expected” And “is in line with the government’s desire to generalize parental controls and to impose online age verification». But “the mobilization of the major platforms must be further accentuated to protect our children online“, he adds.
These discussions have already taken place in China, where ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is established. Under pressure from Beijing, Douyin, the local version of TikTok, automatically shuts down after 40 minutes for users under 14. Impossible for Chinese schoolchildren and college students to connect to it between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
These drastic measures, which contravene individual freedoms, cannot be replicated in the West. Instead, TikTok multiplies screen time limitation tools for teenagers … but also for their parents. TikTok has been offering a Parental Control mode for three years, which allows adults to monitor their children’s activity on the app. Many families are unaware of its existence.
More control for parents
This parental control, which is currently benefiting from a vast advertising campaign in the media, will be greatly enriched in the coming weeks. TikTok announces this Wednesday that parents will now be able to set a maximum connection time depending on the day of the week. For example, 30 minutes maximum of TikTok on Monday, 45 minutes on Wednesday, 2 hours on Sunday…
Parents will also receive a weekly summary of their children’s activity on TikTok. They will not only know how many hours their teenagers spent on the app, but also how long they went there in the evening. Other information, the number of times teenagers have opened the application during the week.
The parents’ dashboard on TikTok: setting the connection time limit per day, and summary of the time spent on the application by their children TikTok
Finally, parents can block the sending of notifications. By default, TikTok stops sending these messages at 9 p.m. for those under 16 and at 10 p.m. for those between 16 and 18. This muting can take place much earlier in the day if the parents wish.
Obviously, all of these measures can only work if teenagers tell TikTok their true age. However, nothing is easier than to affirm that one is over 18 years old using a fictitious year of birth.
This problem, which concerns all websites, will be addressed in the bill on the digital majority discussed Thursday in the National Assembly. It could force social networks to introduce robust control of the true age of its users, on the model of the law on access by minors to pornographic sites.
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A time limit also for adults
Teenagers aren’t the only ones having trouble unplugging from TikTok. The platform announces that users over 18 will also be able to set a maximum connection time depending on the day of the week, and block the sending of notifications after a certain time.
Another upcoming feature: thesleep reminder“. Adults will be able to determine what time TikTok should remind them that it’s time to turn off their phone and go to bed.