Coronavirus: Is your teen spending too much time on Tiktok while staying home? New feature gives parents more control, and direct messages to be disabled for users under 16

Worried about what content your teen is posting or watching on the video sharing app TikTok? And, does their increased screen time concern you, as they stay home from school due to coronavirus restrictions? TikTok’s latest security feature is for parents in the Middle East, to keep a close watch on what content their teen is being exposed to, on the app. On April 19, the app developer announced the Family Pairing Mode, “which allows parents and teens to customize their safety settings based on individual needs.”

Family Pairing, which will be rolled out over the coming weeks, will allow parents to link their TikTok account to their teen's and set controls including screen time management, restrictions on age-inappropriate content and limit access to direct messages.

How it works:

Additional TikTok safety tips can also be found via the #tiktoksafetytips hashtag. The hashtag has currently garnered over 3.5 Million views with popular content creators encouraging users to be safe by reporting any inappropriate content, and making sure they report and avoid repeating any harmful behavior.