TikTok Restricts Beauty Filters for Teens Under 18 After Concerns in Report

November 28, 2024 TruthUSA

A report has found that most teens are in favor of adding labels to filtered and edited images as a way to avoid anxiety and other metal health issues.

Beauty filters for teens under the age of 18 will be restricted on video social media platform TikTok after a new report highlighted concerns about the feature.

TikTok’s European Safety Forum in Dublin, Christine Grahn, TikTok’s head of public policy and government relations in Europe, announced on Nov. 26 the tech giant was working on restricting the use of some appearance effects for teens under 18, aiming at those “designed to alter a user’s appearance.”

The company announced the changes after a multi-market research report by UK-based not-for-profit organization Internet Matters, which was supported by TikTok, showed that young people and parents flagged being authentic online as important.

The report found that most of the teens in the study were in favor of labels on filtered and edited images as a way to avoid increasing anxiety and low self-esteem brought on by unhealthy standards set by the altered images.

“The report also identified new insights about teens’ use of effects and the impact this has on their sense of self,” Grahn wrote in the online announcement.

Beauty filters are applied to still photographs or videos to alter the subject’s physical appearance. Effects can include smoothing skin, changing facial features, and much more.

“A clear distinction was drawn between effects designed to be obvious and funny, like animal ear effects and effects designed to alter your appearance,” Grahn wrote.

“Specifically, teens and parents raised concerns about ‘appearance’ effects, including that those viewing the content might not realise it had been altered.”

As part of its response to the report, TikTok will provide more information about how an effect might change someone’s appearance.

The social media company will also roll out more creators’ guidance so that people developing effects for TikTok Effects House gain “awareness and understanding of some of the unintended outcomes that certain effects may pose.”

TikTok has not announced when the changes will be rolled out or given a timeline for when users can expect to start seeing them.

Experts have warned for years that social media in general can have severe and harmful effects on mental health.

Earlier this year, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy was pushing for warning labels, like those on alcohol and cigarettes, for social media so users can be made aware of the harmful effects.

As part of his argument, Murthy’s appeal cited statistics that revealed adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of experiencing anxiety and depression.

In October, more than a dozen U.S. States sued TikTok, accusing the platform of exploiting and harming young users while deceiving the public about its dangers.

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