TikTok is committed to building a safe community for all its users, including in Myanmar, and believes this effort is especially important for its younger users. Users need a safe, inclusive space on TikTok where they can express themselves freely and feel comfortable being creative. Given the recent developments and challenges facing teens across digital platforms, TikTok remains focused on proactive online safety measures as part of its commitment to protecting teens. To help ensure the wellbeing of every young person under 18, TikTok only allows users aged 13 and older to create an account.
Image: TikTok
In-app safety guidance
In today’s fast-changing digital world, teens’ online safety and responsible behavior depend heavily on the guidance and support they get from their parents and guardians. Parents and guardians play a key role in guiding and empowering teens to navigate the digital world safely.
TikTok understands how important it is to support parents and guardians in educating teens about digital safety and helping them manage their online presence responsibly, both now and in the future. That’s why TikTok’s Guardian’s Guide was designed specifically for parents and guardians. It includes valuable tips and resources to help guide adults through the tools and controls built into TikTok, aimed at ensuring a safe and positive online experience for the community.
In today’s world where technology touches everything, keeping families digitally safe is essential. Resources like TikTok’s Youth Portal, Community Guidelines, and the Guardian’s Guide make it easier for parents to have positive conversations with their teens and keep the dialogue about safety in the digital world going. By encouraging open, honest conversations about teens’ online activity — not just on TikTok but across other digital platforms too — these resources help build digital responsibility and empower teens to prioritize their own safety online.
Image: TikTok
In-app safety tools for teens
Reporting
While TikTok removes most violating content before it’s ever reported, it also encourages users to actively help keep TikTok a safe space by reporting content they feel violates the guidelines. TikTok takes violations of its guidelines seriously and works to remove such content or accounts before others can view or share them. To help keep the platform safe, TikTok uses a combination of technology and human moderators to review content that may go against its Community Guidelines. Content flagged as a potential violation is either automatically removed or sent to a moderator for further review, with especially high-view videos receiving additional scrutiny. After carefully reviewing reports to determine whether TikTok’s policies have been violated, TikTok also checks whether the content is illegal in any particular country or region and takes appropriate action accordingly.
Image: TikTok
Account settings
TikTok supports a range of account settings designed to give users control and customization over their privacy and public visibility. Accounts for users under 16 are set to private by default, with controls in place over who can request to follow them.
Users can request a copy of their TikTok data, including their profile and activity, through the “Download your data” option in Settings and Privacy.
Parents can connect to their teens’ accounts using the Family Pairing feature, allowing them to set controls such as daily screen time, filtering out specific keywords from videos, and enabling Restricted Mode.
Image: TikTok
Content controls
TikTok’s content controls help manage what videos you see within the app. When users follow new accounts or search for hashtags, their For You feed adjusts to reflect their interests. If a video doesn’t match what someone’s looking for, users can press and hold the video and select “Not interested.” Users can report content that may violate the guidelines directly within the app. Restricted Mode offers broader filtering of content, limiting content that may not be appropriate for all users. The Screen Time feature is a digital wellbeing tool that lets users set a daily time limit, requiring a pre-set passcode to continue using the app once that limit is reached.
TikTok continues to actively look for ways to help parents and guardians in Myanmar keep their teens’ online experiences safe. Going forward, TikTok encourages families to explore its wide range of safety tools and resources designed specifically for teens, so they can build a safe and beneficial digital environment together. TikTok calls on everyone to work together, prioritize online safety, and help create a safer online world for all users.