TikTok Is Introducing an Adults-Only Content Option
TiKTok is aiming to graduate along with its primary user-base. And as one step towards maturity, the platform is introducing an adults-only option for live streamers on the platform who wish to restrict their viewership to those 18 and older, as reported by Gizmodo.
As for when and why streamers might opt to set an age limit, TikTok offered a couple of theoretical examples.“Perhaps a comedy routine is better suited for people over age 18. Or, a host may plan to talk about a difficult life experience and they would feel more comfortable knowing the conversation is limited to adults,” the company wrote in its news release.
Those justifications may sound naively chaste, but the move to age-restrict some content on the platform is unlikely to make TikTok the next Only Fans. The platform has a strict ban on most of the content that would be traditionally considered “adult.” “We do not allow nudity, pornography, or sexually explicit content,” says the company’s community guidelines.
And nothing in the new announcement suggests that those guidelines will be different for adults-only streams. “All content, even if designated as better suited for those over 18, must adhere to our community guidelines,” said a TikTok spokesperson in an email to Gizmodo. “With regard to moderation, it’s the same as all content in TikTok. We leverage a combination of people and technology to enforce our Community Guidelines which apply to everyone and everything on the platform.”
Worth noting though: Just because the site says explicit content isn’t allowed, doesn’t mean it doesn’t show up. TikTok has struggled with its moderation in the past, and videos that should, theoretically, be barred based on the community guidelines often slip through the cracks.
