TikTok’s new parental controls give parents additional tools to manage various aspects of their teen’s account as well as their privacy.

TikTok (Rated 12+, Social media, Image and Video Sharing)

App Store Description: “TikTok is a global video community. We make it easy for you to watch awesome short videos AND you can also make your own videos by capturing those funny and memorable moments to share with the world. Spice up your videos with our special effects filters, fun stickers, and so much more. Life’s moving fast, so make every second count.” Although the App Store rates TikTok for children 12+, the app’s creator recommends users be age 13+. The app isn’t classified as social media, but it must still comply with COPPA and underage data collection. Even a 13-year-old middle school student is potentially at risk using this app unless parents are well aware of the various problems.

Problems: After you download TikTok and open it on your phone, a video will start playing right away without you even selecting one. To explore further, try the magnifying glass icon next to the home icon, where you can search keywords and hashtags—yes, TikTok uses hashtags. Searching with the typical problematic hashtags often reveals inappropriate images and videos. After experimenting, we didn’t find much. There is no guarantee this will always be the case.

As for the appropriateness of the typical content, bad words and sexual lyrics that you find in popular music are often lip-synced by a child. There have also been some reports of videos depicting self-harm and violence, on the app.

Parental Controls: If your child is going to use this app, you must turn on the parental controls. TikTok also has a feature called Family Pairing. Family Pairing links a parent’s TikTok account to their teen ...