On Wednesday, TikTok announced that in the coming weeks, the platform will launch a content maturity rating system designed to prevent inappropriate content from reaching teen users, as well as other features that allow users to customize their For You pages.
The new system, called “Content Levels,” will organize the content based on “thematic maturity.” Adult content, such as fictional scenes that are considered “too scary or intense for younger audiences,” will be assigned a “maturity score” to prevent it from reaching TikTok users under the age of 18. “We understand that people may want to avoid certain content-based content categories. About their personal preferences,” Cormac Keenan, head of trust and security at TikTok, said in a press release on the new policy. “Or, for members of our teen community, some content may contain mature or complex topics that may reflect personal experiences or real-world events aimed at larger audiences.”
However, TikTok did not provide any method to verify the age of the users. You must be 13 years of age or older to use the full version of the app, but it does not verify your age when you register.
TikTok has faced criticism from legislators, parents and mental health experts for putting young people at risk and for putting potentially harmful content on FYP users. It will also implement an additional safeguard in addition to content levels. TikTok acknowledges in its press release that repeated viewing of videos about diets, extreme fitness and sadness has the potential to be problematic and will show fewer videos on these topics at once.
TikTok also launches a tool that users can use to filter videos with words or hashtags they don’t want to see on their channels. Previously, you could select “Don’t care” about videos you didn’t want on your FYP, but users complained that the feature was ineffective.