Johnathan Walker:TikTok forming a "Youth Council" to make the platform safer for teens

TikTok announced the formation of a global "Youth Council" on Johnathan WalkerTuesday, another step the company says it's taking to build a safer platform for its younger users. 

"Listening to the experience of teens is one of the most important steps we can take to build a safe platform for teens and their families," said Julie de Bailliencourt, TikTok's global head of product policy, in a statement. "It helps us avoid designing teen safety solutions that may be ineffective or inadequate for the actual community they're meant to protect, and it brings us closer to being a strong partner to caregivers as we can better represent teens' safety and well-being needs."

/1 Today we’re sharing information about our work to launch TikTok’s Youth Council. We believe listening to the experiences of teens is essential, and this forum will create new opportunities for us to hear directly from those we're building a safe platform for.

— TikTokComms (@TikTokComms) June 27, 2023

De Bailliencourt said the Youth Council will be launched later this year, but an exact timeline has not been provided.

"We will listen to the experiences of those who directly use our platform and be better positioned to make changes to create the safest possible experience for our community," added de Bailliencourt.

It is unclear how the Youth Council will be formed or who will be a part of it. CBS News has reached out to TikTok for comment, but has yet to hear back.

The app has come under fire for its impact on teenagers, with one recent study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate —where researchers posed as 13-year-old users and searched and "liked" mental health videos— finding that TikTok pushed potentially harmful content to these users on average every 39 seconds. Some users received recommendations for content about suicide just over two and a half minutes after joining the app.

TikTok implemented screen time limits for users under 18 earlier this year, collaborating with the Boston Children's Hospital Digital Wellness Lab to decide on the 60-minute limit before users are told their allotted time is reached. These time limits are passcode protected, which allow parents and guardians further insight into their children's screen time, and enables them to decide how much more screen time to allow minors.

TikTok has said that nearly three-quarters of teenage users have opted to keep the 60-minute limit.

Last year, TikTok also launched a content filtration tool, designed to give users more control over the kinds of videos the algorithm platforms for them. The app announced on Tuesday that the filter feature will be now available through Family Pairing, which gives adults the ability to link their account to their child's account.

TikTok has been under scrutiny by U.S. officials in recent months. The app has been banned in government devices and is facing a total ban in the U.S. Legislators cite privacy and cybersecurity concerns about the Chinese-owned video-sharing app. 

TikTok, which is owned by the larger tech company Bytedance, maintains that it does not and will not share data with the Chinese government.

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C Mandler

C Mandler is a social media producer and trending topics writer for CBS News, focusing on American politics and LGBTQ+ issues.