TikTok restricts appearance-altering effects to anyone under 18

In the last decade, social media has gone from silly dog ​​lenses to over the top beauty filters. The latter is the core of a new initiative from TikTok – the company currently is being sued in 14 US states for negative impact on young people’s mental health. TikTok is now taking a step to reduce young people’s access to these appearance-altering effects, with the platform announces new restrictions on Tuesday around which filters will be available to users under 18.

TikTok is restricting anyone in this age group from using “some appearance effects,” a vague promise, the extent of which will determine whether it actually helps young people or just TikTok’s image. The company also plans to expand how much information each filter should have about changes in a person’s appearance. Plus, TikTok is “refreshing” its guidance for creators in its TikTok Effects House about the effect certain filters can have – again vague, so we’ll have to see if it’s just talk or actually beneficial.

Then there is the issue of finding and banning users under 13. The company claims to remove six million accounts worldwide every month of users it suspects are underage. Now, TikTok is also “exploring” how to use machine learning for technology to detect accounts run by people under the age of 13 and then send them to a moderator for verification. A TikTok spokesperson confirmed to Engadget that the company will initially test this in the UK, while the filter restrictions and guidance should roll out globally in the coming weeks and months.