TikTok stated it’s launching a meditation characteristic on its platform for all teen customers because it faces a number of lawsuits accusing it of harming kids’s psychological well being with addictive options and harmful content material.
The Meditation in Sleep Hours characteristic will probably be routinely switched on for all customers below 18, the ByteDance-owned social media platform stated in a press launch Thursday.
If a teen makes use of TikTok after 10 p.m., their For You feed will probably be interrupted by a guided meditation to assist them wind down for a greater night time’s sleep. In the event that they proceed to scroll, their feed will probably be interrupted by a second, full-screen immediate.
Grownup customers can activate the characteristic from the Display screen Time settings web page.
The brand new characteristic is just like one other one the video-sharing platform has been testing that interrupts teen customers’ feeds with calming music and a video encouraging them to take a break.
The corporate additionally stated it was making a $2.3 million donation in advert credit to 31 psychological well being teams world wide.
The strikes come amid lawsuits, in addition to backlash from politicians and psychological well being advocates, that accuse TikTok of being deliberately addictive and for stealing minors’ private info.
In October, 14 attorneys normal, led by officers in New York and California, filed lawsuits accusing the platform of damaging younger customers’ psychological well being and stealing their private info with out consent.
Authorities officers, together with former Surgeon Normal Vivek Murthy, have warned the app contributes to excessive charges of despair and nervousness in US teenagers.
TikTok has denied the claims, saying it has safeguards in place for younger customers and that it has labored with the attorneys normal through the years.
Whereas TikTok says customers should be at the least 13 to create an account, the Justice Division and Federal Commerce Fee in August filed a civil lawsuit accusing TikTok and ByteDance of amassing private info from kids below this age restrict.
The go well with alleged the app had inadequate pointers in place to determine and delete accounts created by kids.
TikTok and ByteDance didn’t instantly reply to The Put up’s requests for remark.
President Trump has lengthy taken goal at TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese language firm, over nationwide safety considerations, first making an attempt to ban the platform in 2020 throughout his first time period.
The app went offline for lower than 24 hours earlier this yr after the Supreme Court docket upheld a regulation to ban TikTok until ByteDance divested its stake to a US-based firm.
Trump signed an govt order to revive the app, and has repeatedly delayed the ban’s deadline, which has now been prolonged to June.
