Supporting families with new Family Pairing features

By: Suzy Loftus, Head of Trust and Safety for TikTok US Data Security

Today, we're announcing new safety and well-being features for teens and families on TikTok. We're introducing new Family Pairing features that provide parents with greater visibility about their teen's account along with new tools to customize settings to what's best for their teen and family.

Teen accounts have more than 50 different features and settings designed just for them so they can safely express their creativity, connect with friends, and learn on TikTok. Today's updates support young people on our app and give families more tools to have conversations about online experiences, safety, and privacy on an ongoing basis.

New visibility tools for parents

On top of our built-in safeguards for teen accounts, TikTok offers Family Pairing, a feature that allows parents and guardians to tailor their teen's account to their individual needs. Family Pairing provides parents with a jumping off point to talk with their teens about how they use TikTok. Combined with our Digital Safety Partnership for Families, we continue to equip families with a toolkit to have open and ongoing conversations about their experiences online.

To further these conversations, we're starting to introduce new Family Pairing features that give parents more visibility about their teen's account. One new feature we're testing will automatically notify a parent when their teen uploads a video, story, or photo that's visible to others on TikTok. This helps parents stay informed and start open conversations about what their teen is posting, without disrupting their creativity or independence. Teens say that they value their parents helping them to check and understand privacy and safety settings, and we've also added a feature that enables greater insight into the privacy settings their teen selects. For instance, parents will see if their teen (ages 16-17) allows people to download their content, or if others can Duet or Stitch with what they post. By default, these features are permanently off for teens 13-15 and can't be changed.

In addition, a feature we previously announced that allows teens to alert a parent if they report a video on TikTok is now available globally. While parents won't see the specific reported content, it's designed to help make it easier for teens to start conversations about online boundaries and safety with the trusted adults in their lives.

View the topics that matter to teens

We recently introduced Manage Topics, a feature which allows people to customize how often content related to more than 10 popular topics is recommended in their feed—like Creative Arts, Travel, Nature, and Sports. Through Family Pairing, we'll now enable parents to see which topics their teen has chosen to shape their feed. We've heard from teens that they want their caregivers to be interested in their digital life and to recognize how important it is to them. With increased visibility into content preferences, families can connect on the topics they're interested in on TikTok, and the content and creators that excite and inspire them.

Adding block controls to Family Pairing

Earlier this year, we added a new tool to Family Pairing that enabled parents to see who their teen had chosen to block. Building on this, we're creating a new tool within Family Pairing that lets parents block specific accounts. We heard from parents that they know best what content is suitable for their teen, and this tool gives them another way to customize their teen's TikTok experience. When an account is blocked, it loses the ability to directly interact with the teen. Its content will no longer appear in the teen's feed, and the teen can't view the account's profile. If things change, teens can send their parents a request to unblock the account, but parents make the final decision. This feature will initially launch in Europe.

To learn more about the safety features and resources we offer teens and families, check out our Safety Center.