TikTok gets long-overdue fact-checking, plus new parental controls

Video streaming platform TikTok is finally introducing fact-checking, in the form of TikTok Footnotes – the equivalent to X’s Community Notes. This is initially available in the US only.

The company has also announced new parental controls, aimed at giving oversight of both TikTok consumption and uploads by teens …

Community Notes have played a valuable role on the social network formerly known as Twitter. Hoaxes and disinformation has been a growing problem on X, and the Community Notes feature allows this to be controlled to some degree by allowing other users to link to reputable sources to contradict some of the wild claims made.

TikTok has suffered from exactly the same problem, with conspiracy theories and often dangerous nonsense being promoted in short videos. TikTok Footnotes is designed to help address the problem, the company said today.

The company issued an invitation earlier this year to apply to become a Footnotes contributor, and says it has so far approved almost 80,000 US users. Footnotes are initially visible only to other contributors, but become publicly visible once marked as helpful by enough people. Users can also report Footnotes they believe to be breaking the rules.

The company also announced the launch of Family Pairing, intended to help parents and guardians monitor both consumption and upload of videos by teens.

Creators also get a number of additional tools, including two intended to block offensive and unwanted comments on their videos.

Images: TikTok