The global short-form video platform TikTok is improving its "safety pairing" feature to enhance the protection of teenage users. The safety pairing connects parents and children accounts to regulate teenagers' usage time, with various safety features added in addition to those introduced in March. The functions aimed at protecting creators' activities have also been strengthened. In particular, the platform aims to minimize risks by enabling creators to actively block user responses during comments or live broadcasts.
On the 30th, TikTok held an online media briefing titled "TikTok's Trust and Safety" that contained this information. During the briefing, Adam Presser, TikTok’s global head of operations and trust and safety, personally introduced the newly added features through real-time live streaming.
Presser noted, "In a landscape where millions of content pieces are released daily, enhancing protection for creators and users through technology is essential," and emphasized that strengthening platform protection is a way to maximize creators' creativity and transparency while explaining the significance of this expansion of protective features. He added, "TikTok is enhancing safety features to ensure that teenagers, families, creators, and the community can all operate in a trustworthy platform environment."
First, Presser explained the enhancement of the "safety pairing" feature to protect teenagers. With this update, guardians can receive real-time notifications when teenagers upload content and can check and manage various aspects such as privacy settings, interested content, content download permissions, and following lists. Additionally, the "content report notification" feature for children, announced last March, will be globally expanded. This feature sends alerts to guardians when teenagers report inappropriate content on TikTok, helping them better understand and respond to the online activities of their teenagers.
Presser stated, "To add these functions, it was important to hear directly from teenagers," adding that "TikTok heard from a global youth council of representatives from 15 countries gathered in London a few weeks ago about what challenges teenagers face while using TikTok and how we can create solutions."
Along with this, creator protection features have also been strengthened. Presser stated that creators can automatically filter out comments containing profanity or aggressive expressions, or comments from users who previously marked "report/delete/dislike" through the "creator care mode." In particular, a feature where artificial intelligence (AI) learns the types of comments creators repeatedly delete or report and reduces the exposure of similar comments is notable. The live broadcasting function has also been improved, with a new "live comment restriction" feature introduced that allows for the simultaneous blocking of specific words, phrases, or emojis in real-time comments.
Functions have also been added to help creators communicate more effectively with users. Through the "creator inbox," creators can automatically categorize important messages and respond to frequently asked questions with pre-set answers in one click. Additionally, a "creator chat room" feature has been included to enable real-time interaction between creators and their followers.
Presser explained, "Fundamentally, TikTok restricts comments that violate community guidelines," and noted, "However, with this creator care mode, creators are supported in fine-tuning their comment experience through personalized filtering." He added, "Creators often feel burdened when receiving hundreds to thousands of messages daily, and the creator inbox addresses this issue. This allows creators to spend less time responding to messages and focus more on authentic communication with their fans."
Meanwhile, during this event, Presser also spoke about TikTok's response to the spread of fake news generated by generative AI technology. He said, "Content generated by AI that could cause misunderstandings or violate TikTok's guidelines will be proactively deleted," and explained, "We are applying automatic labeling to AI content and are establishing a system to verify the source and creation of AI videos produced on external platforms through the C2PA (Digital Content Provenance Authentication Standard)."