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TikTok users who are between 13 and 15 will automatically have a private account after a new privacy setting was announced Wednesday.
The new policy also requires young users to approve their followers and removes the prompt “Suggest your account to others.”
“By engaging them early in their privacy journey, we can enable them to make more deliberate decisions about their online privacy,” said Eric Han, TikTok’s Head of U.S. Safety, in a blog post.
The social networking platform is also introducing the option to limit who can comment on videos created by minors. These users can choose between “Friends” or “No One” for their account, but the “Everyone” comment setting will be removed.
Fifteen-year-old Valeria Irizarry said the new features guarantee a step ahead to keeping her safe.
“Young people like me must be oriented around the damages of the internet and especially with TikTok, which [presents] itself as a fun platform,” Irizarry said, according to USA Today. “Strangers could look at our TikTok accounts and learn a lot about our personal [information].”