Anxious About Who Your Teen Interacts With on TikTok? Learn This

TikTok is the most recent app so as to add extra protections for teenagers, as mother and father now have the power to dam accounts and get notified each time their child uploads content material.

The social media platform, which the Pew Analysis Middle discovered 63% of teenagers use, introduced the updates on July 30, 2025. They arrive a couple of months after TikTok rolled out a number of different parental controls as a part of the Household Pairing characteristic which launched in 2020.

Here is a breakdown of the latest controls.

New Household Security Options on TikTok

By means of the Household Pairing characteristic, which requires caregivers hyperlink their accounts with their teenagers’, mother and father have been in a position to modify settings, corresponding to managing display screen time and direct messaging, in addition to muting push notifications and filtering key phrases. That is along with the handfuls of options and settings discovered on TikTok teen accounts.

Now, TikTok revealed some new options that folks can entry.

• Elevated visibility instruments. Mother and father shall be pinged anytime their teen uploads a brand new video, story, or photograph. Mother and father will even get to see if their teenagers (ages 16 to 17) enable others to obtain, Duet, or Sew their content material. Have in mind, these options aren’t out there for teenagers ages 13 to fifteen.
• Managed Matters visibility. Mother and father can now see what their teen has chosen to see extra of on their TikTok feed. Class choices embrace “Inventive Arts,” “Dance,” “Style & Magnificence,” “Meals & Drinks,” “Well being & Health,” amongst others.
• Block accounts. Mother and father now have the ability to dam particular accounts from interacting with their teen’s account. Content material from blocked accounts will not be proven on the teenager’s feed. Whereas teenagers can request permission to unblock these accounts, solely mother and father can grant closing approval. After all, teenagers have already been in a position to block accounts on their very own.

The blocking characteristic is a crucial one, says Stephen Balkam, founder and CEO of the Household On-line Security Institute, a nonprofit group aiming to make the web world safer for youths and their households.

“There’ll at all times be content material that reveals up in teenagers’ feeds that they merely do not wish to see or hear or expertise in any approach,” he says. “And I believe it is a very empowering factor for teenagers to have their very own instruments to dam and to report, in addition to for folks to have the power to take action as properly.”

One other characteristic which will profit teenagers is TikTok’s new “Properly-being Missions.” Customers are rewarded with a badge after finishing these quick quizzes and interactive flashcards. Developed with enter from the platform’s Youth Council and the Digital Wellness Lab, these “Missions” give attention to selling constructive well-being. 

“It is a kind of gamification of what we needs to be serving to our children with all the time,” says Balkam. “That is one the place youngsters will discover it themselves. They will not be advised by a dad or mum or a trainer to do it. Everybody likes to get a reward, a badge, a smiley face—even us adults. And I believe that is only a actually great way of participating teenagers in one thing that they need to be inspired to do.”

A Wider Push for Parental Controls

TikTok is not the one social media platform that’s specializing in upping its parental controls. Instagram, Snapchat, Roblox, and different platforms have rolled out their very own protections, following a lot ridicule over the risks of apps. That features display screen dependancy, psychological well being issues, and cyberbullying.

With one other Pew Analysis Middle report saying almost half of teenagers are on-line nearly continuously, extra protections are wanted. Though, many have their limitations. Titania Jordan, Chief Parenting Officer + CMO at Bark, an organization aiming to guard youngsters on-line, beforehand advised Mother and father that having the ability to confirm a person’s age is proving to be tough.

However specialists say parental controls are only one a part of the puzzle. One other is having ongoing dialog along with your youngsters about their on-line exercise. But, generally conversations like these can really feel tough to provoke.

Balkam says step one is to curb your personal feelings. He talked about that doing so along with his personal daughter when she was a teen allowed her to really feel comfy trusting him.

“You have to hold your personal fears at bay,” he says. “If you happen to lose it, they will not get it.”

Then, it is necessary to indicate curiosity and ask questions reasonably than making a fast judgment.

“Too typically, we criticize our children, we decide our children, we bounce to conclusions, and that shuts them down,” Balkam explains. “Ask questions, hold that dialogue [going], and hold the door open for them to maintain coming to you with stuff.”