Best practices for securing your Tik Tok account. - Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP

  • Many teenagers publish videos on TikTok every day, visible to any user of the application.
  • Although the social network has fewer "trolls" than Facebook or Twitter, there are a few settings to keep your account secure.
  • How to report an account, block comments by keywords or make your account private? 20 Minutes explains everything.

While, on Instagram, the retouched photos of trips to the end of the world and of breakfasts grab all the likes, on TikTok, creativity, dance, humor, and challenges are king. Based on the creation of music videos, the application has become, in just a few years, the favorite of young people in the world. A playful spirit which should not make us forget that TikTok remains a social network with its good aspects, but also its dangers.

If, on the side of the Chinese application team, we assure that "the TikTok community is positive and benevolent", the network is only a world of glitter and red pandas. For teens or their parents, there are options to adjust certain parameters of a TikTok account and thus adapt it for more secure use.

Public accounts = window on room

When you create an account on TikTok, it is in public mode by default. That is, anyone with the app can view the videos posted by this account. A quick visit to the platform shows that many public accounts are held by people under 18 and that, even if the age limit is set at 13, some users have far less. Teenagers who film with their family, with their boyfriends or girlfriends, or alone in their room.

To switch to private mode, go to your profile, then in the settings (the three small dots at the top right), and click on "confidentiality and security". The first setting that appears at the top suggests that you switch the account to private mode. "Only the users you approve can subscribe to you, see your videos and your likes," says the app.

Access privacy settings on Tik Tok and make your account private - Capture Tik Tok

Comment barriers

For TikTok, "the priority is that the platform remains positive and benevolent". For this, the network has drawn up "community guidelines". In case of non-compliance with these, an algorithm and a French moderation team can decide to delete a comment, content, or even block or ban an account. In the long rules, for example, it is forbidden to publish a hate speech or even to disparage a person "on the basis of criteria such as intellect, appearance, personality traits or hygiene". However, as on any network, some comments fall between the meshes of moderation.

Selection of various comments written under the Tik Tok video of a young teenager - Captures Tik Tok

However, there are several options for filtering comments. To report one of them, long press on it. The “report” option then appears. By going to your video, it is also possible to deactivate comments by clicking on the three small dots, bottom right, then on "privacy settings".

How to turn off comments under a Tik Tok video - Capture Tik Tok

Finally, there is a way to control comments on all of your videos at the same time. Go back to the settings (always the three little dots at the top right of the profile), click on "confidentiality and security". At the bottom of the page, you have several options: choose who can post comments or filter them. By clicking on this second choice, you can avoid spam and offensive comments or even filter the comments with the keywords of your choice.

Outcomes in the face of cyberbullying

It is also possible to block accounts as well as the reception of private messages, always passing through the privacy settings of your profile. Witnesses of harassment or inappropriate behavior can also act by reporting content or a user.

To report a user, go to their profile, click on the three small dots at the top right, select the "report" icon. Then go to "posting inappropriate content" and select the reason for your report.

How to report a user on Tik Tok - Capture Tik Tok

To report a video, just click on the sharing arrow on the right, select the "report" icon and then follow the same procedure as for reporting an account.

How to report a video on Tik Tok - Capture Tik Tok

For its part, TikTok supports the e-childhood association which fights against online harassment. "We regularly ask TikTok creators to make videos to raise awareness of good practices and we then put them in the flow of all users," explains the network's communication.

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