TikTok will ban users under 18 from using its face-beautifying filters in just a few weeks, according to a report by The Guardian. The announcement was made at a security forum hosted by TikTok at its headquarters in Ireland.
Users under 18 will no longer be able to access filters that beautify the face, enlarge the eyes, make the lips smoother and make the skin smoother. This is to reduce the impact on teenagers who are affected by prolonged use of the filters. There have been reports of underage users who feel their real faces are ugly due to too much use of beauty filters.
Other filters used to produce humorous or trending content will still be available as usual. At the same time, TikTok will start banning users under 13. An artificial intelligence (AI) system will be used to detect whether users are lying about their age. This step is believed to be taken to comply with several bills introduced in Europe that prohibit the collection of data of users under a certain age by social media platforms.