There was a time in many developed countries where parents were concerned about their children watching too much TV and then came the video games and iPads and tablets. Now, the latest is trying to take children away from watching short videos on the TikTok app. ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok is now introducing fresh features that allow the parents to control what their kids can access on TikTok and what they cannot.
This parental control feature is being called Family Pairing by TikTok. This will roll out immediately in the US and will reach all users worldwide in a few days. The Family Pairing feature will permit the parents to set limits like Screen Time Management, Restricted Mode and Direct Messages. The Direct Message feature is now being completely withdrawn for those below 16 years of age with effect from April 30. Again, this will be a worldwide phenomenon.
In many countries particularly in regions like Europe, there are existing laws that govern the kind of contents the social media sites can carry. TikTok had taken the measures in those markets already using names like Family Safety Mode and so on.
Under the Family Pairing feature, the parents will have to set their own TikTok account and then link their account to their children’s (aged 13 years and above) account. After that, the parents can control how long the kid is on the TikTok app, who Direct Messages are being sent to, etc. This will permit the parent to restrict the viewing of content in the app by blocking contents that are inappropriate. Experts feel this may not work quite perfectly.
At this time of lockdown when schools are shut and children can’t move out and play, the time they spend on sites like TikTok has increased many times over.
ByteDance is slowly waking up to the regulatory controls it can face in multiple markets over the contents on its platform and has hired experts to guide it on the issue.