FILE - This photograph taken with a fish-eye lens in Paris on March 1, 2023 shows the social media application logo TikTok. (Photo by JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images) TikTok said Wednesday that every account held by a user under the age of 18 will have a default 60-minute daily screen time limit in the coming weeks.
The changes arrive during a period in which there are growing concerns among different governments about the app's security.Families have struggled with limiting the amount of time their children spend on the Chinese-owned video sharing app.Cormac Keenan, head of trust and safety at TikTok said in a blog post Wednesday that when the 60-minute limit is reached, minors will be prompted to enter a passcode receive a passcode and make an "active decision" to keep watching.
For accounts where the user is under the age of 13, a parent or guardian will have to set or enter an existing passcode to allow 30 minutes of extra viewing time once the initial 60-minute limit is reached.TikTok said it came up with the 60-minute threshold by consulting academic research and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children's Hospital.RELATED: American teens' mental health crisis: What's driving this?There have long been concerns about what minors are exposed to on social media and the potential harm it might do.
A report released late last year suggested that TikTok’s algorithms are promoting videos about self-harm and eating disorders to vulnerable teens.Social media algorithms work by identifying topics and content of interest to a user, who is then sent more of the same as a way to maximize their time on the site.