Parents Can Now Stop Their Kids from Sending DMs on TikTok

TikTok has added a new set of parental control measures. 

(Photo: The Quint)

TikTok has recently updated its service and allowed for more parental control on kids' accounts. The new feature is called "Family Pairing" and it allows a parent to link their TikTok account to their child's account and set some controls.

As a new feature, parents can now stop their kids from sending Direct Messages (DMs). They can either restrict who can send messages to the connected account or turn off the feature completely.

In addition, TikTok will also disable the DM feature for all users under the age of 16 years.

Starting April 30, we will be taking those protections one step further as relates to younger members of our community, and automatically disabling Direct Messages for registered accounts under the age of 16.

TikTok Blog Post

Family Pairing also allows parents to manage the screen time for their kids on the TikTok app. Under screen time management, parents will be able to keep tabs on the time spent by their kid on the app and also put restrictions on it. Parents will be able to control the time their kid is spending using the app.

The latest update also gives parents the ability to filter out the kind of content that their kids are watching on TikTok. In Restricted Mode, parents will be able to limit the appearance of content that may not be appropriate for all audiences.

The update comes amid a crisis for the company as news broke out about an 18-year-old TikTok user in Noida committing suicide on Friday as he was not able to get any likes on his videos and was severely depressed.