TikTok’s filters can be a fun way to interact with the app, acting like digital face paint that can make you look like a clown or a tiger. However, effects that aim to amplify a user’s beauty are a little more complicated. Following over a dozen lawsuits that have targeted the platform over its effect on the mental health of teen users, TikTok has now ruled that users under the age of 18 will no longer be able to use “certain appearance-altering effects.” While filters designed to be obviously funny will not be restricted, those designed to alter beauty will be. In other words, teens on TikTok will still be able to wear digital animal ears and cat noses, but touching up their photo to look more glamorous is prohibited. TikTok executives pointed out that the new guidelines for using filters will keep users who are under 18 from lying about their age by doctoring their appearance. This new ruling joins the most recent change of defaulting the screen time limit to one hour per day for users between the ages of 13 and 17.
