TikTok announced today (July 7) the launch of a series of new features related to trust and safety, covering youth and family safety management, community digital health, and creator support mechanisms, further demonstrating its commitment to creating a safe platform for creation and interaction, and strengthening user autonomy and platform governance capabilities through technological tools.
As a globally popular short video social platform, TikTok continues to invest in upgrading its privacy protection and digital security technologies. This update focuses on three main areas: enhancing family functions, expanding the digital wellness experience, and providing exclusive safety tools for creators.
Adam Presser, director of TikTok's operations and trust and safety team, said these updates come from long-term observation of teenagers' usage habits, creators' needs and expert advice, and integrate feedback from external consultants, medical institutions and youth committees to provide a more flexible and humane usage mechanism.
At the same time, Adam Presser emphasized that TikTok will become a "stage" that brings people together and combines technology to safely express oneself. He also explained that 85% of inappropriate content is currently removed automatically through technologies such as AI, 90% of which is removed before anyone views it, and as high as 99% is removed before being reported as inappropriate content.
Parent tools upgraded to enhance parent-child communication and transparency
TikTok already offers over 50 exclusive features and privacy settings for youth accounts, and this time it has expanded the "Family Pairing" feature to help parents understand their teenagers' content usage while respecting their independence.
New features include automatic notifications from TikTok when teenagers upload videos, limited-time stories, or public photos, allowing them to immediately know whether the public content is appropriate and facilitate real-time communication between the two parties. In addition, this update also adds clearer information about account privacy. For example, parents can see whether their teenagers have turned on the "content download" function or whether they have set "following objects" to public, and can further understand their preferences in "manage topics" to facilitate personalized dynamic content.
At the same time, TikTok continues to promote digital literacy education through the Digital Safety Partnership for Families, hoping to help parents and children establish long-term and positive relationships with technology use.
Launched the "Digital Health Mission" to establish positive social usage behaviors
To help users develop healthier digital content habits, TikTok is also launching "Well-being Missions," encouraging users to cultivate positive habits through simple, interactive tasks. Completing each task earns users badges as positive feedback, encouraging them to reflect on their usage frequency and duration, strengthening their ability to manage their digital consumption, and preventing digital addiction.
This new feature was designed based on recommendations from the Global Youth Council and research from the Boston Children's Hospital Digital Wellness Lab. It integrates TikTok's existing "Screen Time Management" and "Sleep Reminder" features to create a more comprehensive digital wellness experience. TikTok also revealed that it is actively developing a new app experience centered around "digital wellness," integrating personal usage statistics, goal setting, and challenge activities. This will be gradually released in the coming months.
Creator care mechanism launched, new tools to ensure creative space and community interaction
TikTok also stated that creators are at the core of the platform's content innovation, and therefore, this update also includes several support mechanisms, including comment management, live streaming controls, pre-creation review, and fan interaction tools. The newly launched "Creator Care Mode" will automatically filter offensive or inappropriate comments to avoid psychological pressure on creators.
Additionally, the "TikTok LIVE Mute" feature allows creators to block specific words and emojis during live broadcasts to maintain order. The "Content Check Lite" tool helps creators pre-check whether their videos are eligible for the "Recommended for You" page. The "Creator Inbox" allows for clearer message categorization and quick reply functionality for interaction. The new "Creator Chat Room" allows creators to interact with select fans in real time, further enhancing their social media presence.
The "Annotation" feature is being piloted in the US, providing additional contextual information for videos.
To help users better understand the context of short videos, TikTok also announced the launch of a small-scale test of its "Footnotes" feature in the United States. This feature allows users to add information and references to their videos, and allows the community to rate the usefulness of the annotations.
If the response is good in the future, TikTok will further expand the testing scope and language support of the "Annotation" function.
