TikTok plans to ban Beauty Filters for Teens

TikTok has announced plans to ban young people from using beauty videos due to growing concerns about the impact of such tools on mental health, especially among young people.

In a security meeting held at its European headquarters in Dublin and later detailed in a blog post, the company said the changes will affect filters that change features of its users, such as facial expressions. However, it won’t include filters that add playful effects like dog ears or bunny ears, the company said.

Instagram said in a blog post it was prompted to make the change after it commissioned research with a UK non-profit organization that found there was a clear difference between effects designed for fun, such as bunny ears, and others . designed to change the look.

“In particular, young people and parents have raised concerns about the effects of ‘appearance’, including that viewers may not realize they have been changed,” wrote Christine Grahn, head of public policy and government relations. Europe, in a blog post.

The company said it will provide more information about how certain effects can change their appearance, on top of its existing efforts to notify TikTok users when certain effects have been applied.

“By fostering a culture of authenticity, respect and support, we can create a digital world where everyone feels empowered to be their authentic self,” Grahn said.

The company told CNET that it will ban the use of visual effects on under-18s worldwide in the coming weeks and months.

The move comes as social media platforms have long faced criticism over how beauty filters can affect young people’s mental health. Recently, the American Psychological Association has raised concerns about how new developments such as AI-generated photos and videos may pose health risks around body image and how sometimes sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between what is true and what is not. Many research groups have advanced for more control over these issues.

TikTok’s latest efforts also follow stricter rules in the UK under the Internet Security Act, which mandates that the platform take stronger measures to protect new users from harmful content.

TikTok has also announced plans to tighten restrictions on people under the age of 13 entering the platform by implementing a test that uses machine learning to see if people are lying about their age. The company will start testing this in the UK.

“This technology will help identify accounts that may belong to a person under the age of 13 so that a specially trained administrator can review the account and remove it if they believe the person is not reach our age,” Grahn said. Like today, people will be able to appeal if they think we’ve made a mistake.

The age verification process is still difficult because there is no standard. Many platforms rely on reporting age and the act of not requiring ID verification raises concerns about data security and access for younger users. TikTok said it was removing about 6 million accounts worldwide “because we believe our minimum age requirement has not been met.”

The move to protect teenagers on TikTok also reflects a general shift in the industry amid growing concerns about children’s safety in digital spaces. Virtual gaming platform Roblox recently announced parental controls, allowing guardians the ability to restrict or see how much time their child spends on the site, and ban anyone under the age of 13 to send private messages.

Meanwhile, Instagram has recently launched other tools for parents, including the ability to restrict access at certain times of the day, especially at night.