TikTok Parental Controls & Creator Tools Update - New Features

TikTok Introduces Expanded Features for Safety, Creators, and Well-being

On Wednesday, TikTok revealed a comprehensive update encompassing several new functionalities. These include improvements to parental controls, enhanced resources for content creators, and a novel interactive feature focused on digital well-being. Furthermore, the platform officially launched Footnotes, its dedicated fact-checking mechanism.

Strengthened Parental Controls via Family Pairing

New enhancements are being implemented within Family Pairing, TikTok’s system enabling parents to link accounts with their teenager’s. This allows for customized safety configurations. Parents are now able to specifically block individual accounts from their teen’s access.

Blocked accounts will be prevented from interacting with the teen, and their content will no longer appear within the teen’s content feed. This provides a more granular level of control.

Automatic notifications will now be sent to parents whenever their teen publishes a public video, story, or photo. TikTok states this feature is designed to keep parents informed regarding their teen’s posts without hindering their creative expression.

Increased transparency regarding privacy settings is also being offered. Parents can now view whether their teen, aged 16 to 17, has enabled content downloads or made their follower list publicly visible.

New Tools Empowering Content Creators

“Creator Care Mode” is being launched, automatically filtering comments identified as offensive, inappropriate, or containing profanity. Comments from users who have previously been reported, disliked, or had their comments removed will also be filtered.

This feature leverages AI to analyze a creator’s blocking and deletion patterns. Consequently, if a creator consistently removes specific comment types, those comments are less likely to appear in future comment sections.

A new tool for TikTok Live will permit creators to completely block specific words from their live comments. Users who have previously used, or subsequently use, the blocked phrase will be automatically muted for a duration chosen by the creator.

To streamline message management, TikTok is introducing the “Creator Inbox,” a professional inbox experience featuring “Unread” and “Starred” folders. Creators can also establish custom responses to frequently asked questions and utilize quick replies for efficient communication.

The “Creator Chat Room” is also being launched, enabling creators to directly connect and interact with qualifying followers. This allows for direct messaging between creators and their audience.

Access to Creator Chat Rooms is limited to creators who are at least 18 years old, possess a minimum of 10,000 followers, and have either a Subscription or Live Fan Club. Each chat room is capped at 300 participants, and creators can manage up to 20 concurrent chats.

Content Eligibility and Community Guidelines

Creators will gain access to “Content Check Lite,” a feature allowing them to verify if their content meets the criteria for inclusion in the For You feed. This enables adjustments before publication.

TikTok is also piloting a more comprehensive Content Check function, which will assess content against the platform’s Community Guidelines prior to live posting.

Promoting Digital Well-being

A new feature called “Well-being Missions” is being introduced. These consist of brief quizzes and interactive flashcards designed to foster balanced digital habits. Users will receive badges upon completion of these missions.

TikTok is developing a dedicated in-app digital well-being experience. This will include resources such as breathing exercises, calming audio tracks, and screen time insights to assist users in recharging and maintaining a healthy relationship with the platform.