TikTok said on Wednesday that every user account under the age of 18 will have a standard 60-minute daily usage limit on the device in the coming weeks. Changes come in the period in which there is the growing concern of various governments regarding the security of the application and the ability to change your algorithm to promote certain messages.
Update too mirror game rules is imposed on minors in China, where TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is based. In 2021, Chinese authorities issued new rules banning minors from playing online games for only one hour a day and only on Fridays, weekends and holidays – an attempt to curb internet addiction.
In the US, families are struggling to limit the amount of time their children spend on the Chinese video-sharing app. According to the Pew Research Center, approximately two-thirds of American teenagers use TikTok.
Cormac Keenan, head of trust and safety at TikTok, said in a blog post on Wednesday that when the 60-minute limit is reached, minors will be prompted to enter a password and make an “active decision” to continue viewing. For accounts where the user is under 13, a parent or guardian will need to set or enter an existing password to allow 30 minutes of additional viewing time after the initial 60 minute limit is reached.
TikTok said it determined the 60-minute threshold after consulting academic research and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital.
There has long been concern about the exposure of minors to social media and the potential harm it can cause. A published report late last year suggested that TikTok’s algorithms were promoting videos about self-harm and eating disorders to vulnerable teenagers. Instagram, owned by Facebook’s parent company Meta, also has faced similar accusations.
Social media algorithms work by identifying topics and content of interest to the user, who are then sent more of the same to maximize time spent on the site. But critics of social media say the same algorithms that promote content about a particular sports team, hobby or passion for dance can send users down a rabbit hole of harmful content.
TikTok also said on Wednesday that it will also begin prompting teens to set a daily screen time limit if they opt out of the default 60-minute limit. The company will send weekly inbox notifications to teens’ screen time accounts.
Some of TikTok’s existing security features for teen accounts include default private accounts for those between the ages of 13 and 15, and ensuring direct messages are only available for accounts where the user is 16 or older.
TikTok has announced a number of changes for all users, including the ability to set individual screen time limits for each day of the week and allowing users to set a schedule to turn off notifications. The company is also launching a sleep reminder to help people plan when they want to be off the grid at night. For the sleep feature, users will be able to set a time and when the time comes, a pop-up window will remind the user that it’s time to log off.
In addition to overuse by some minors, there is growing concern about the app worldwide. The European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of the EU banned from installing TikTok on official devices.
It follows similar actions taken by the US federal government, Congress and more than half of the 50 US states. Canada has also banned its use in government devices.
House Republicans are advancing a bill that would give President Joe Biden the ability to ban the app nationwide, which has faced opposition from some civil liberties groups who say such a move would be unconstitutional. On Wednesday, the law was passed by the Republican-controlled Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives along party lines. The bill still needs to be voted on in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
AP Business Writer Hallelujah Hadera contributed to this report from New York.