How TikTok restricts accounts under age 16

TikTok this month clarified how it is restricting accounts under age 16. These accounts are set to private by default. TikTok private accounts can choose to share their content with Followers or Friends. The setting ‘Everyone’ is turned off. Duet and Stitch are disabled on these accounts.

According to TikTok, when teens under the age of 16 are ready to publish their first video, a pop-up appears asking them to choose who can watch the video. Teenagers aren’t able to publish their video until they make a selection.

Downloads are permanently disabled on content from accounts under the age of 16. Teens aged 16-17 receive a pop-up asking them to confirm the choice before others can download their videos.

Accounts aged 13-15 do not receive push notifications from 9pm, and accounts aged 16-17 have push notifications disabled starting at 10pm.

DMs (Direct Messages) are disabled in accounts under age 16, and when someone aged 16-17 joins TikTok, their Direct Messaging setting is set to ‘No One’ by default.

Last month, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) fined TikTok, over English-only privacy terms.