TikTok is making big moves to combat the concerns regarding the effects of its beauty filters on teenagers’ mental health. Under the plans, the platform said it is restricting under-18 users from accessing certain hard to identify appearance altering effects. It aims to provide a healthier online experience for young users.
Global rollout of the new restrictions is expected in the coming weeks. Most of all, they will attack transforming filters that subtly change facial features, such as more beautiful skin, smaller faces, or even longer eyelashes. All users will continue to receive filters for humor (like adding animal ears or exaggerated features). However, the items designed for humor will be reserved for humor.
A Global Effort to Safeguard Teens
As part of a global initiative, these restrictions were confirmed by Dr. Nikki Soo, TikTok’s Safety and Well-being Public Policy Lead for Europe. The move comes after Internet Matters, a children’s online safety non-profit, recommended a ban. It was discovered that beautifying filters mask that distorted worldview, where images that are edited are taken as normal.
It is often difficult for children and teenagers to recognize edited and non-edited images. It adds such social pressure to conform to an impossible ideal of beauty it adds to the woes of the mind.
Furthermore, TikTok will further expand filter descriptions to explicitly explain what each effect will change. The intent of this move is to give users more control over which tools they utilize every day.
Expanding Resources for Mental Health Support
In addition to banning filters, its resources are being added in 13 European countries. These resources will link users who report content about suicide, self-harm, hate, or harassment with local helplines and resources. The initiative by TikTok on this is because it takes responsibility for creating a safe online environment.
The company is committed to user safety, said TikTok’s European public policy head Christine Grahn She stated, “If our users don’t feel safe, they won’t bring their true selves to TikTok and the platform just wouldn’t be the same.”
These changes are crucial for the large chunk of TikTok’s community in Europe, where the platform has over 175 million monthly active users.
Enhancing Safety with Advanced Technology
The app is also experimenting with new machine learning technologies that can find accounts made by people under 13, the minimum age who are permitted on the platform. On average, the company takes down about six million accounts worldwide every year due to this violation.
Everyone with a flagged account will get a chance to appeal the decision. This system ensures fairness to users at the price of sacrificing strict measures of safety.
The short-form mobile video app has continuously been setting standards of online safety, keeping the focus on these main areas and always keeping its users safe. This also represents that the company is learning from its community and partnering with experts to build a safer digital space.
