• by Colin Kirkland , October 17, 2022

TikTok has announced safety updates to its livestreaming feature, TikTok LIVE, including a higher age requirement, and the launch of adults-only livestreams. 

As of November 23, users must be at least 18 years old to host a livestream on the platform -- two years older than TikTok’s current age requirement of 16.

According to the company, this change aligns with its other age restrictions. Users must be 16 or older to access direct messaging, and 18 or older to send virtual gifts or access TikTok’s monetization features. 

TikTok also plans to make it easier for creators to reach strictly adult audiences via LIVE by rolling out adult-only livestreams in the coming weeks.

The company isn not changing its policies and therefore does not intend for these livestreams to show adult content. Instead, it wants creators to prevent minors from viewing content aimed at an adult audience. 

“Perhaps a comedy routine is better suited for people over age 18,” TikTok said in a recent statement. “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.”

“We want our community to make the most of the opportunities LIVE can bring without compromising on safety,” the company added.

TikTok is also updating its keyword filtering tool, which LIVE creators have been able to use to limit comments that may not be appropriate. In the coming weeks, the filtering tool will send a reminder to people, suggesting new keywords they may want to add to their filter list. 

The tool will accomplish this by examining what kinds of content a creator removes from their livestream most often, then automatically suggesting similar words to their list. According to TikTok, tests of this feature found that it “nearly doubled those keyword filtering when looking at the most popular LIVE creators.”

The popular short-form video network is also rolling out “Multi-Guest,” a new feature that will allow hosts to livestream with up to five guests using a grid or panel layout. TikTok hopes this will keep audiences engaged “as they respond to questions, host how-to videos, or simply share a moment together with the community.”

Once the livestream begins, creators can tap the three dots to change a variety of settings, such as flipping the camera, adding effects and stickers, filtering comments and adding moderators.