TikTok developer ByteDance has announced that it is finally introducing fact-checking, in the form of TikTok Footnotes, to the US version of the application. The TikTok Footnotes serve a similar function to the Community Notes feature found on X, which was formerly known as Twitter.
The company has also announced new parental controls, aimed at giving oversight of both TikTok consumption and uploads by teens.
Where TikTok Footnotes are concerned, the feature targets hoaxes and disinformation, which have been a growing problem on X. The Community Notes feature allows for some degree of control by enabling users to link to reputable sources and counter some of the wild claims made.
Per TikTok:
“Footnotes draws on the collective knowledge of the TikTok community by allowing people to add relevant information to content on our platform. Starting today, U.S. users in the Footnotes pilot program can start to write and rate footnotes on short videos, and our U.S. community will begin to see the ones rated as helpful – and rate them, too.”
The company issued an invitation earlier this year to apply to become a Footnotes contributor, and says it has so far approved almost 80,000 US users. Footnotes are initially visible only to other contributors, but become publicly visible once marked as helpful by enough people. Users can also report Footnotes they believe to be breaking the rules.
ByteDance has also announced the launch of a Family Pairing feature, which is intended to help parents and guardians monitor both consumption and upload of videos by teens.
The feature will include the following:
- Automatically notify a parent when their teen uploads a video, story, or photo that’s visible to others on TikTok. This helps parents stay informed and start open conversations about what their teen is posting, without disrupting a teen’s creativity or independence.
- Provide greater insight into the privacy settings their teen selects. For instance, parents will see if their teen (ages 16-17) has enabled downloads for their content, or if their following list is visible to others. They can also see which topics in our Manage Topics feature their teen has chosen to shape their feed.
Creators also receive several additional tools, including two intended to block offensive and unwanted comments on their videos.
If you’ve had a chance to try these features, please let us know about your experience in the comments.
Via 9to5Mac and TikTok
