TikTok rolling out content filters, maturity ratings

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TikTok will introduce what it calls “Content Levels”, a new system that the company says is designed to give more control to users and help keep them safe online.

The move comes at a time when the Chinese-owned social media app is facing increased scrutiny over the handling of the user data and content.

The content-filtering system, which will go live in a few weeks, will allow the classification of content and assigning of age ratings, so users can decide if they want to view the content or not.

TikTok says the content on its platform could contain "mature or complex themes that may reflect personal experiences or real-world events that are intended for older audiences".

The social media platform said it would work to classify content in a more age-appropriate manner, and accordingly assign it maturity scores.

The company would introduce an early version of this feature designed to restrict content that is tagged mature from showing up on the feeds of those aged between 13 and 17.

TikTok would also tag videos with fictional scenes that are frightening for a younger audience and would assign them a rating so that they can’t be viewed by younger users. The feature would grow over time to filter content for everyone and not just teens.

Ratings would be assigned by moderators and would first be applied to popular or trending videos. The company may eventually ask content creators to tag videos themselves but didn’t give a timeline for it.

TikTok would also launch a tool to filter content from your feeds (For You and Following). This will allow users to manually block content that may have certain words or phrases they don’t want on their feed.

Speaking with TechCrunch, TikTok admitted it still has a lot of work to do and ironing out the kinks would take some time. The company said that what they are, "striving to achieve is complex and we may make some mistakes”.