TikTok Rolls Out two New Features to Promote Safety and Kindness

TikTok has rolled two new features to help foster kindness on the platform. The first feature gives creators more control over the comments on their videos, and the second prompts people to reconsider posting unkind or inappropriate comments.

Tara Wadhwa, Director of Policy, TikTok US noted, “At TikTok, we continually work to maintain a supportive environment that enables our community to focus on what matters to them: being creative, finding community, and having fun. Part of this fun is engaging with content, sharing ideas, and connecting through comments. Our goal is to promote a positive environment where people support and lift each other up.”

While acknowledging the efforts taken by content creators to add value to the platform, Wadhwa said, “Creators put their heart and soul into creating content millions of content millions of people love, and we’re working to provide even more control over their content. With our new Filter All Comments feature, creators can decide which comments will appear on their videos. When enabled, comments aren’t displayed unless the video’s creator approves them using the new comment management tool.”

This feature builds on TikTok’s existing collection of comment controls that allow people to filter spam and offensive comments, and specific keywords. “We know that comments are an important way for community members to connect with creators, and we’ll continue to develop ways to promote respectful discussion,” the company added.

In addition to empowering creators with more tools, the company also wants to encourage its community to treat everyone with kindness and respect. A new comment prompt now asks people to reconsider posting a comment that may be inappropriate or unkind. It also reminds users about the platform’s Community Guidelines and allows them to edit their comments before sharing.

“We value the guidance of experts as we develop policies and features, and we’re announcing our new partnership with the Cyberbullying Research Center (CRC). The CRC’s mission is to develop sound research about cyberbullying and related forms of abuse/misuse, and we’ll be working with them to advance our knowledge of bullying on and off TikTok, collaborate on ways to better support our community members, and develop other initiatives to help our platform remain supportive and welcoming,” the company revealed.

While reacting to the partnership, Dr. Sameer Hinduja, Co-Director of the Cyberbullying Research Center said, “The Cyberbullying Research Center is excited to work with TikTok in the months ahead on anti-bullying initiatives. TikTok’s new features are positive steps to promote kindness and we’re eager to collaborate on further ways to protect against bullying and harassment.” 

While reiterating its commitment to making its platform safer, TikTok said, “Creating a safe and positive app environment that allows creative expression to thrive is our priority. We’ll continue to strengthen our safeguards for users, build tools that provide people with more control to shape their experience, and keep listening to feedback from our community and experts.”