TikTok to limit late-night notifications for teenagers

The social media app has vowed to do more to stop young people from obsessing over its platform. Picture: Bang Showbiz

The social media app has vowed to do more to stop young people from obsessing over its platform. Picture: Bang Showbiz

Published Aug 18, 2021

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TikTok is set to limit late-night notifications for teenagers.

The social media app has vowed to do more to stop young people from obsessing over its platform by bringing in a new feature which will stop under 18s from receiving push notifications after a certain time at night.

According to the app, users aged between 12 and 15 will not receive push notifications after 9pm, while those between 16 and 17 will stop getting them after 10pm.

The company claims the change will help young people focus on work, study, relaxation and sleep.

TikTok is also changing its default settings so users between 16 and 17 will have to opt in to receive direct messages.

In a statement, the social media platform said: "We want to help our younger users in particular develop positive digital habits early on.”

The news comes after TikTok recently restricted direct messaging to over 16s only, and now, message settings for those under 18 will be set to "no-one" by default, meaning "to message others, they will need to actively switch to a different sharing option".

Existing users will be asked to review and confirm their privacy settings the next time they send a message.

Additionally, under 16s will now have to choose who can see their videos before they post their first piece of content.

They can choose to show their followers, their friends, or just themselves, meaning videos of under 16s will not be viewable by everyone on the platform.