TikTok limits kids’ content consumption to 1 hour per day

Compelling-to-watch TikTok, the most downloaded app in 2022, is now setting the default time limit for kids to one hour a day on its platform.

This is a drastic departure from their mission to keep kids (everyone) on their site for as many hours as possible and comes at a time when TikTok is under scrutiny for the content available to kids, the algorithm that delivers content we can’t stop watching, their ability to spy on users and links to China’s government.

Read more here.

TikTok users under 18 will now automatically have a 60-minute daily screen time limit. However, they can continue using the app if they enter a passcode.

Users under 13 will also have a 60-minute daily limit, and a parent or guardian can enter a passcode that extends their daily usage for another half hour.

Can kids change the setting to get more time?

Absolutely.

This isn’t a change with any teeth or actual limit for safety.

Why the change?

Momentum is building toward national legislation requiring social media companies to protect users under 18 years old from scrolling potentially harmful content endlessly. In Congress, through parent and teacher advocacy, through young people sharing the harms they encounter online, through whistleblowers at tech companies, and through research that shows social media is one of the main reasons youth mental health is suffering.

TikTok setting a time limit on itself sounds good in theory, until you realize kids can override it. We need national safety standards and penalties for companies that don’t protect kids online.