For users aged under 13, we'll delete your account on day 120 (or day 30 in the U.S.) from the date of our appeal decision and start deleting all your other data. Learn more about underage appeals on TikTok and how to download your data.
From the date your account is banned for being underage, you have 113 days to submit an appeal and download your data. If you appeal successfully, we will unban your account and not delete your data.
However, in misrepresenting your age, you will have violated the Terms of Service of those respective apps. If your real age is found out, you could face removal from their service or even a lifetime ban.
Accounts that consistently violate Community Guidelines will be banned from TikTok.
Direct messaging on TikTok is available only to registered account holders aged 16 and older. Direct messaging is automatically turned off for registered accounts between the ages of 13 and 15. Learn more about direct messages on TikTok.
Age restrictions
TikTok requires its users to be at least 13 years old. Despite users having to be aged 13 and up the age ratings for TikTok are, a little confusingly, 12+ on Apple's App Store and "Parental Guidance Recommended" on the Google Play Store.
What age is TikTok recommended for? Common Sense recommends the app for age 15+ mainly due to the privacy issues and mature content. TikTok requires that users be at least 13 years old to use the basic TikTok features, although there is a way for younger kids to access the app.
Suggestive Content Abounds
With TikTok being mostly based on music and video, profanity and suggestive clothing/dancing are the most obvious sources of adult content. But the app also encourages some themes that are much more mature than their 16+ rating would suggest.
You will receive an email requesting a copy of your photo ID to confirm your date of birth. You must submit one to complete this process. For more information, please see this article here.
It's normal for TikTok to ask you to verify your age, as there are different rules and features available on the site for different ages.
TikTok will never contact you asking for your account details or verification qualification. But it's important to remember that scammers may try to trick you into sharing your personal information, usually by email or through an in-app message.
Strikes on your TikTok account will expire after 90 days and will no longer be taken into consideration for a permanent account ban.
Underage ban
An underage ban is a potentially permanent ban that can lead to account deletion after 113 days.
You have to enter your birth date to set up an account, but there's no age verification, so it's easy for kids under 13 to sign up. Common Sense Media rates Snapchat OK for teens 16 and up, mainly because of the exposure to age-inappropriate content and the marketing ploys, such as quizzes, that collect data.
Eagar advises not allowing single dating before age sixteen. “There's an enormous difference between a fourteen- or fifteen-year- old and a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old in terms of life experience,” he says. You might add or subtract a year depending on how mature and responsible your youngster is.
Zigazoo, the startup known for its TikTok-style video-sharing app for kids, is launching a separate app targeted at Gen Z users.
At what age should a child be allowed to be on TikTok? Jean Twenge, our nation's leading researcher on how social media impacts child and adolescent development, recommends that no child under 13 should be on any social media, including TikTok.
Experts suggest that you should wait to get your kid a smartphone until at least 8th grade. Along with age, a kid's social awareness, understanding of technology, and maturity should be considered.
What age-rating is Snapchat? The platform is rated 13+. How does Snapchat work? The platform mainly operates as a messaging app where users can communicate with each other using videos and images.
“Ten to 12 is a great range because kids are still very connected to their parents and into their parents being in their phone and in their business,” says Catherine Pearlman, a licensed clinical social worker and author of “First Phone,” a guide for kids.
Here's a quick summary of the latest updates so far (as of April 20, 2023): TikTok's status is still up in the air. Public opinion remains split when it comes to a potential ban.
TikTok, which has over 150 million American users, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese technology firm ByteDance Ltd., which appoints its executives. ByteDance is based in Beijing but registered in the Cayman Islands, as is common for privately owned Chinese companies.
But the wildly popular platform, developed with homegrown Chinese technology, isn't accessible in China.