TikTok to stop sending late alerts to teens

The team at the popular short video sharing service TikTok has unveiled new measures to improve the platform's security and privacy for teens.

Perhaps the most interesting of all the changes is the new push notification policy. The developers note that they want to help teenagers develop a healthier attitude towards social networks so that social networks do not adversely affect their sleep.

Based on the recommendations of pediatricians, TikTok will stop sending push notifications after 9:00 PM if the user is 13-15 years old, and teens aged 16-17 will stop receiving notifications after 10:00 PM.

Another change that TikTok is introducing is allowing teens between the ages of 16 and 17 to better understand how video downloads work. By default, the ability to download videos uploaded by teens is turned off, but you can turn it on. The user must confirm their choice before allowing others to download their video.

For users under 16, the option to let others upload their videos is completely disabled and cannot be enabled. Teens under 16 will also now see a pop-up when posting a video asking who is allowed to view that video. Without clearly specifying who is allowed to view the video, it will not be possible to publish the video.

Finally, TikTok has turned off direct messaging by default for users between the ages of 16 and 17, but this setting can also be changed to enable messaging. In April 2020, TikTok completely disabled messaging for user accounts under 16.