![TikTok Videos Will Get 'Content Levels', Sort Of Like 'R' Rated Movies](https://dot.la/media-library/tiktok-is-building-a-new-system-to-organize-content-based-on-thematic-maturity.jpg?id=30093065&width=1200&height=400&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C840%2C0%2C840)
![dot.LA](https://dot.la/media-library/dot-la-logo.png?id=28274272&width=166&height=100)
Get in the KNOW
on LA Startups & Tech
XTikTok Videos Will Get 'Content Levels', Sort Of Like 'R' Rated Movies
Christian Hetrick
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
Movies, music and video games have long received content ratings to shield kids from mature media. Films featuring sex scenes or gory violence are rated “R,” while albums full of curse words are slapped with the “Parental Advisory” label.
Nothing like that exists in the Wild West of user-generated social media. But TikTok on Wednesday said it is building something similar: a new system to organize content based on thematic maturity. In the coming weeks, the Culver City-based company will roll out an early version, with the goal of preventing “overtly mature themes” from reaching teens. TikTok is calling it “Content Levels.”
“Many people will be familiar with similar systems from their use in the film industry, television, or gaming and we are creating with these in mind while also knowing we need to develop an approach unique to TikTok,” Cormac Keenan, TikTok’s head of Trust and Safety, wrote in a blog post.
The company said it will assign videos a “maturity score” when it detects content that has "mature or complex themes." As an example, TikTok said frightening or “intense” fictional scenes could receive a maturity score.
That will help block people under the age of 18 from viewing those videos, according to TikTok. The firm shared screenshots showing “age protected” posts flagged as “unavailable” to younger users. For now, the social media giant said it is focused on “safeguarding the teen experience,” but it eventually plans to offer more detailed content filtering options for all users.
A screenshot showing an "unavailable" post under TikTok's new Content Levels system.
Image courtesy of TikTok
TikTok’s new Content Levels come as social media platforms face scrutiny over how their apps can be harmful to kids. Federal lawmakers in Washington have grilled tech executives about child safety, while state attorneys general are investigating social media giants over how their design, operations and promotional features could be bad for kids. News reports and lawsuits have said TikTok has fed teens videos depicting eating disorders, dangerous viral “challenges” and other damaging content.
The company has already taken some steps to separate content for teens and adults. TikTok is testing a new setting to let users restrict livestreams to viewers who are 18 and older. The company also updated content rules aimed at combating harmful content, such as preventing viral hoaxes, shielding the LGBTQ community from harassment and removing videos promoting unhealthy eating.
TikTok’s new Content Levels come as social media platforms face scrutiny over how their apps can be harmful to kids. Federal lawmakers in Washington have grilled tech executives about child safety, while state attorneys general are investigating social media giants over how their design, operations and promotional features could be bad for kids. News reports and lawsuits have said TikTok has fed teens videos depicting eating disorders, dangerous viral “challenges” and other damaging content.
The company has already taken some steps to separate content for teens and adults. TikTok is testing a new setting to let users restrict livestreams to viewers who are 18 and older. The company also updated content rules aimed at combating harmful content, such as preventing viral hoaxes, shielding the LGBTQ community from harassment and removing videos promoting unhealthy eating.
In addition to the forthcoming maturity scores, TikTok announced Wednesday that it is rolling out a tool for people to filter out videos with words or hashtags they don't want to see in their feeds. The company said it has also worked to avoid flooding users with similar videos on topics that could be problematic when seen repeatedly, such as dieting, sadness and other well-being issues.
A TikTok spokesperson did not detail what the company’s guidelines for maturity scores will look like, such as whether videos containing violence or profanity will be automatically age-restricted, for example. TikTok users won’t be able to appeal their videos’ maturity scores in the first version of Content Levels, the spokesperson added. That could upset some creators since such restrictions would presumably limit their virality. The TikTok spokesperson said the firm will listen to feedback over the coming months before making adjustments.
But the biggest question of all may be how effective Content Levels will actually be at shielding kids from mature content. Despite the best efforts of parents, plenty of kids still find a way to watch “R” rated movies and play “M” rated video games. Teens will likely try to do the same on TikTok.
From Your Site Articles
- TikTok 'Blackout Challenge' is the Focus of a New Lawsuit - dot.LA ›
- TikTok Restricts Who Can View Sexually Explicit Content - dot.LA ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Christian Hetrick
Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.
CrowdStrike CEO Says He Regrets Not Firing People Quicker
03:10 PM | March 04, 2020
Ben Bergman/dot.LA
George Kurtz, co-founder and CEO of the cloud-native endpoint security platform CrowdStrike, says executives should be obsessed with culture. Everyone below him must be fanatical about customer success and outcome and if they aren't fitting in, they need to go quickly. It's one of the biggest lessons he's learned as CEO.
"Not one time have I regretted firing someone too fast," Kurtz told a lunchtime crowd at the first day of the Montgomery Summit in Santa Monica. "It's that I waited too long."
Kurtz founded the company in Sunnyvale, CA, in 2011 and it went public last year. He was joined on a panel by John Chambers, the former executive chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems, who said he bought 180 companies during his tenure. But he did not acquire a company that was not a very close cultural fit.
"I walked on one of the bigger acquisitions we were going to do," Chambers said. "Culture is as important as strategy and vision and I did not understand that when I was a young CEO."
Chambers said he was proud of Cisco's 95% employee retention rate when he was CEO, which is well above the industry average. He oversaw a rigorous hiring process to make sure candidates were right.
"If you're not interviewing through 10 people, you're not doing the screening process properly," Chambers said.
If an executive wanted to jump to a competitor, he would try to find out what was at the root of someone's unhappiness. The number one factor: Dissatisfaction with their immediate supervisor.
From Your Site Articles
- Open Raven Data Security Firm Raises $4.1 Million - dot.LA ›
- Open Raven Raises $15M to Keep Data Secure in the Cloud - dot.LA ›
- March Capital Scored a Billion Dollar Return on Crowdstrike - dot.LA ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Read moreShow less
Ben Bergman
Ben Bergman is the newsroom's senior finance reporter. Previously he was a senior business reporter and host at KPCC, a senior producer at Gimlet Media, a producer at NPR's Morning Edition, and produced two investigative documentaries for KCET. He has been a frequent on-air contributor to business coverage on NPR and Marketplace and has written for The New York Times and Columbia Journalism Review. Ben was a 2017-2018 Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economic and Business Journalism at Columbia Business School. In his free time, he enjoys skiing, playing poker, and cheering on The Seattle Seahawks.
https://twitter.com/thebenbergman
ben@dot.la
🤫 The Secret to Staying Fit at Your Desk: 6 Essential Under-Desk Exercise Machines
06:26 PM | July 24, 2024
Health experts are sounding the alarm: our sedentary jobs are slowly killing us, yet we can't abandon our desks if we want to keep the lights on. It feels like we're caught between a rock and a hard place. Enter under-desk exercise machines – the overlooked heroes (albeit kind of goofy looking) of the modern workspace. These devices let tech professionals stay active, enhance their health, and increase their productivity, all without stepping away from their screens. Here are 6 fantastic options that will enhance the way you work and workout simultaneously.
DeskCycle Under Desk Bike Pedal Exerciser
This bike has nearly ten thousand five-star reviews on amazon. It works with nearly any desk/chair setup. It is quiet, sturdy and allows up to 40 pounds of resistance. If you are looking for an under-desk bike this is a fantastic option.
Type: Under-Desk Bike
Price: $180 - $200Sunny Health & Fitness Dual Function Under Desk Pedal Exerciser
This under-desk bike is extremely quiet due to the magnetic resistance making it an ideal option if you work in a shared space. It doesn’t slip, has eight levels of resistance, and the option to work legs and arms. It’s about half the price of the DeskCycle bike making it a solid mid-range option for those looking to increase their daily activity.
Type: Under-Desk Bike
Price: $100 - $110Sunny Health & Fitness Sitting Under Desk Elliptical
This under-desk elliptical comes in multiple colors if you really want to underscore that you are a quirky individual, in case an under-desk elliptical isn’t enough. This model is a bit heavy (very sturdy), has eight different resistance levels, and has more than nine thousand 5-star reviews.
Type: Under-Desk Elliptical
Price: $120 - $230
DeskCycle Ellipse Leg Exerciser
This under-desk elliptical is another great option. It is a bit pricey but it’s quiet, well-made and has eight resistance levels. It also syncs with your apple watch or fitbit which is a very large perk for those office-wide “step” challenges. Get ready to win.
Type: Under-Desk Elliptical
Price: $220 - $230Daeyegim Quiet LED Remote Treadmill
If you have a standing desk and are looking to walk and work this is a fantastic option. This walking-only treadmill allows you to walk between 0.5 to 5 mph (or jog unless you have the stride length of an NBA forward). It is very quiet, which is perfect if you want to use it near others or during a meeting. You can’t change the incline or fold it in half but it is great for simply getting in some extra steps during the work day.
Type: Under-Desk Treadmill
Price: $220 - $230Sunny Health & Fitness Foldable Manual Treadmill
This under-desk treadmill isn’t the most premium model but it is affordable and has an impressive array of features. It is a manual treadmill meaning it doesn’t need to be plugged in; it is foldable and offers an incline up to 13%. I personally can’t imagine working and walking up a 13% incline but if that sounds like your cup of tea, then I truly respect the hustle.
Type: Under-Desk Treadmill
Price: $150 - $200Read moreShow less
RELATEDTRENDING
LA TECH JOBS