TikTok, the short-form video hosting service, has launched the new ‘Family Academy’ in the UAE, in a move to empower local families with digital safety and wellbeing tools.
Bringing together parents, creators, and digital safety advocates, TikTok aimed to spotlight digital wellbeing, online safety tools, and positive digital habits for families navigating the online environment through its Family Academy.
The inaugural Family Academy event in the UAE featured a panel discussion titled ‘Empowering Families to Navigate the Online World Together’, which boasted insights from Ilunga Mpyana, head of public policy programmes for the Middle East, Turkey, Africa, Pakistan and South Asia at TikTok, as well as Jana Bou Reslan, educator and TikTok Changemaker, moderated by parenting content creator Remie Salloum.
Panellists explored prevalent themes in today’s digital age, including recognising digital fatigue in teens, ensuring positive screen habits, and co-curating positive and personalised digital experiences. The panel also focused on demoing how to use a variety of TikTok’s safety tools, including screen time management, content filters, family pairing, and advanced keyword filtering, to support healthier digital boundaries and encourage open family conversations.
“Our goal is to provide families with meaningful control and customisable features that not only encourage responsible online behaviour but also foster creativity within a supportive community,” Mpyana explained. “This year alone, we’ve introduced over 15 new safety features to enhance our existing family pairing tools. “TikTok’s Community Guidelines form the backbone of our safety ecosystem, continuously evolving to stay ahead of emerging risks. Every time someone engages on TikTok, they’re protected by a dynamic and ever-adapting framework designed to keep them safe.”
How is TikTok trying to keep its young audience safe online?
The event showcased TikTok’s latest safety feature enhancements designed to support family wellbeing. Many of these enhancements build on family pairing, a feature which the content platform launched five years ago, which continues to evolve with input from families and digital safety experts.
Key enhancements include a setting that enables parents to decide when it’s best for teens to take a break. Teens can request extra time, but TikTok leaves the final decision in the hands of their parents or guardians. Parents can also now set personalised reminders for teens to limit app usage throughout the day.
Via enhanced privacy controls, parents can now view who their teen follows and who follows them on TikTok, along with accounts their teen has blocked. They can also manage who sees their teens’ content, who can interact with them, and who can send them direct messages.
Finally, TikTok has enhanced its offering with ‘Wind Down Mode’, which ensures that teens under 18 who use the app after 10pm will receive a full-screen reminder accompanied by calming music to help them unwind. A second reminder will follow shortly after, in the form of a harder-to-dismiss, full-screen prompt that will appear if they continue scrolling.
