TikTok to tackle grooming with safeguards for young users

NSPCC welcomes changes as it says abusers are taking advantage of pandemic to target children online

Children on TikTok will face groundbreaking" new restrictions in an attempt to prevent grooming on the platform, the video-sharing company has announced, with particularly strict new rules for users under 16.

The platform, which has a lower age limit of 13, said users under 16 would no longer be able to receive comments from strangers, have their videos used for duets" or mark their posts as available to be downloaded. Their accounts will default to private", which prevents anyone other than friends from viewing their videos.