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TikTok has come under fire for not doing enough to shield its young users from inappropriate content.
TikTok said on Wednesday that it is creating a mechanism that would enable parents to block their teenagers from seeing material with particular terms or hashtags on the short-form video platform.
ByteDance, the Chinese technology firm that owns the video-sharing platform TikTok, is under increasing investigation for its ties to the Chinese government and the security of its users' information.
The popular app has been prohibited on government-issued mobile devices in the United States, Canada, and other countries for reasons of national security.
The European Commission also banned TikTok from its official devices due to security concerns, per a previous HNGN report.
TikTok has been criticized for failing to adequately protect young users from harmful material.
TikTok stated in a blog post that the app is working with parents, youth, and civil society groups to build the parental control function, according to Reuters.
Together with these updates, the company also announced the arrival of tools to assist customers to control their app use. TikTok said that accounts belonging to individuals under the age of 18 would have an automatic time restriction of one hour per day.
The firm said that parents may now restrict their children's access to TikTok on certain days of the week.
A study published in December by the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) discovered that it takes fewer than three minutes after creating a TikTok account for users to encounter information connected to suicide, and around five more minutes to discover a group advocating content concerning eating disorders, CNN reported.
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TikTok Slapped With Fine in Turkey
In related news, Turkey's Personal Data Protection Board (KVKK) announced on Wednesday that TikTok had been fined 1.75 million lira (about $93,000) for failing to safeguard its users from the illicit usage of personal data.
The KVKK said it fined the company for "not taking all necessary measures to ensure the appropriate level of security" to deter illegal processing of users' data, per CNA.
TikTok has said they are reviewing the penalties levied by the Turkish authority.
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