TikTok Adds “Distressing Content” Alerts

Another news from the TikTok App for the safety of its users. These days, in fact, the platform is adding new ones in-app search alerts, which will notify users when results contain “distressing content”. Last year, indeed, the application introduced the warning of “sensitive content” on individual videos, but now the warnings will also appear in search results, should they present something unpleasant for users. But let’s find out something more.

TikTok: App adds alerts for “distressing content” in search results

In a recent blog post the TikTok App shared the example of searching for the term “scary make-up“, because the results could actually contain the warnings recently introduced by the platform. For its part, TikTok specifies that users can click on the alert for view the results anyway. And that content deemed distressing will not be considered eligible for App recommendations. But that is not all. The application is also modifying the search results to provide more resources on related searches to suicide and self-harm.

This way users can easily connect to help lines such as Crisis text Line, and then easily reach “content from our creators where they share their personal experiences with mental well-being, information on where to seek support and advice on how to talk to loved ones about these issues.” An important initiative for a platform that has so far struggled to manage self-harm content. Just last year, the video of a suicide shared on Facebook Live went viral on the TikTok app, creating panic and confusion.

On the other hand, in many cases it was the creators themselves who shared annoying viral content. And this makes us think that the platform solution of relying on them to share positive messages isn’t all that sensible. But now the App wants to make the user experience safer than ever. And maybe he found the right solution to do it.