TikTok said it will implement an automatic 60-minute screen-time limit for all users under the age of 18, CNBC reports.
When the 60-minute limit is reached, teens will be prompted to enter a passcode to continue watching videos on the social media app, “requiring them to make an active decision” to keep scrolling, the company said on Wednesday, according to the report
Teens will be able to opt out of the feature if they want, but TikTok said that the app will prompt teens to set a limit if they spend “more than 100 minutes on TikTok in a day.”
TikTok says it consulted current academic research and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital when deciding how long the time restriction should be, according to The Verge.
“While there’s no collectively-endorsed position on how much screen time is ‘too much’, or even the impact of screen time more broadly, we recognize that teens typically require extra support as they start to explore the online world independently,” said Cormac Keenan, Head of Trust and Safety at TikTok, in a statement, the report said.
TikTok says it’s developing new content controls that will allow caregivers to filter videos with words or hashtags they don’t want their children to watch. The company is working with “parenting, youth, and civil society organizations” over the coming weeks to design the feature.