TikTok on Thursday rolled out its new Family Pairing feature that gives parents greater control over kids’ accounts in the U.S. It’s now possible to set screen time limits, disable direct messaging, and more.
Family Pairing is part of TikTok’s mission to make its video sharing platform a safer space for kids. Its arrival in the U.S. comes after a similar feature, Family Safety Mode, was made available to parents in Europe earlier this year.
The change comes after TikTok was last year forced to cough up $5.7 million to the Federal Trade Commission for allegedly violating children’s privacy laws, partly for allowing kids under 13 years old to sign up without parental consent.
It now gives parents much greater control over the kinds of content their children can see.
Family Pairing goes live in TikTok
Family Pairing allows parents to link their TikTok account with those of their kids — assuming those kids agree to have their accounts linked. The parent can then control their kids’ settings from their device.
To get started, parents must scan a QR code displayed inside the digital wellbeing section of their kid’s account using TikTok on their own phone.
Once the accounts are paired, parents can disable direct messaging, block content that is considered inappropriate for youngsters, and set screen time limits so that kids can’t waste too many hours watching TikTok videos.
Kids have the ability to disable Family Pairing at any time, but doing so sends a notification to the parent’s account. Parents also receive a link that lets them re-pair both accounts in case they were unlinked accidentally.
DMs disabled by default
For some kids, parents won’t need to disable direct messaging manually. Starting today, the ability to send and receive messages is deactivated by default for all TikTok users who are under 16.
