Two TikTok news stories have recently taken the tech world by surprise. Even if they are not necessarily linked, they are important for revealing the direction where the platform is going. Let’s take a look at how it became the most downloaded app in the world and—why there’s a sudden need for new privacy controls.
TikTok Reinforces Privacy Controls for Teenagers
The video-sharing app has recently announced stricter privacy controls for teenage users, seeking to address criticism that it had failed to protect children from hidden advertising and inappropriate content.
Over time, Chinese company ByteDance, owner of TikTok, has often been criticized for failing to protect minors from inappropriate content and hidden advertising, following the app’s meteoric rise to prominence around the world. As a result, TikTok announced that it would impose stricter privacy rules for minors aged 13 to 17.
Changes to the privacy of TikTok content for minors aged 13 to 17 will take effect worldwide in the coming months.
What Will Change on TikTok
One of the first changes to TikTok will be the introduction of a pop-up window asking under-16s to choose who can view their videos before they are posted on the app.
“The process of making a TikTok is fun and creative – choosing music, picking effects, and getting the transitions right – but it is just as important to choose who that video will be shared with. To help teens understand the sharing options available to them, we’re now adding a pop-up that appears when teenagers under the age of 16 are ready to publish their first video, asking them to choose who can watch the video. They won’t be able to publish their video until they make a selection”, company representatives said in a statement.
At the same time, videos made by children under 16 will not be downloadable, and direct messaging settings for 16 and 17-year-old users will automatically be set to “no one”, although users will be allowed to change this setting.
Another change to TikTok relates to push notifications. The time period when minors can receive these types of notifications will be reduced. Specifically, teenagers aged 13 to 15 will no longer receive them after 9 PM, while the cutoff time for 16 and 17-year-olds will be 10 PM.
Even if the announcement was hailed by privacy experts, the new regulations are somehow behind new safety features announced by several tech giants. For example, Google has recently announced ways to remove the images of children from image search results, as well as changes to its YouTube Kids service. Apple, meanwhile, is introducing new ways to detect child sexual abuse material and to warn parents if their children receive or send sexually explicit material.
TikTok Exploded in Popularity Amid Global Restrictions
TikTok became the world’s most downloaded mobile app in 2020, overtaking Facebook and its messaging apps, a sign that the coronavirus pandemic has expanded the popularity of the video platform beyond its original audience.
According to digital analytics company App Annie, TikTok topped the downloads charts last year, followed by Facebook and other apps under the firm’s umbrella—WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger.
Although TikTok went through a rough patch in late 2019, when former US President Donald Trump tried to ban it with executive orders accusing the app of being used to spy on Americans on behalf of Beijing, this hasn’t affected the app’s popularity, which surged amid health restrictions and lockdowns.
In June, US President Joe Biden announced the revocation of his predecessor’s decrees, while calling on his administration to investigate the real risks posed by apps owned by certain foreign powers. At this time, the app is completely banned in India, China, Pakistan.
While TikTok claims nearly 700 million monthly users worldwide, Facebook retains a big lead: more than 3.5 billion people use at least one of its four platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp) every month. Instagram and other social networks, however, have copied the easy-to-use, special-effects video format that made TikTok so popular.
The announcement that TikTok has become the most downloaded app shows us once again that a major new player has emerged on the scene and that TikTok’s short videos and algorithm have won the loyalty of hundreds of millions of people around the world. This also means a growing need for new privacy controls, especially given its target audience.
