At a special event held at the Moxy Athens City Hotel in Athens, Tiktok He presented in detail the strategy and tools he uses to protect his new users.

The presentation, with the central theme of Youth Safety, was attended by Jade Nestor, Head of Data Public Policy for Tiktok Europe, Luana Lavecchia, Senior Public Policy and Government Relations For Greece and Italy and Adela Leka, Head of Communications for Greece, Italy and Portugal.

Ms Nestor began the presentation, stressing that Tiktok is a entertainment platform fueled by the creativity of its community. The central element of the experience is the “for you” flow-algorithm, which is unique and personalized for each user. The proposal system takes into account the interests that the user states, their interactions (Likes, Follows, Tracking Time), as well as the hashtags, to display content that is likely to be interested.

The company’s strategy for the safety of young people is based on three pillars: protection, empowerment and continuous learning. As part of the protection, the platform is strictly aimed at users of 13 years and over, using a “neutral age gate” when registering. To identify and deduct accounts belonging to users under 13, Tiktok combines automated systems and specialized auditors. The effectiveness of this effort is reflected in the deduction of almost 21 million accounts worldwide in the last quarter of 2024 (October – December). Content control is carried out by both automated systems and humans, with 5,800 auditors dedicated to European languages, while content considered “mature” is limited so that it is not accessible to users of 13-17 years.

Beyond the protection, the platform It focuses on strengthening adolescents and their families. For users under 18, the daily use time is defined by default at 60 minutes, while the accounts of those below 16 do not allow DMS and under 18 cannot make live broadcasts. The “Family Pairing” tool plays a central role, which allows parents to connect their account to that of their child to manage the time of use and privacy settings. Indeed, it was reported that this tool is now being displayed on the official government’s Parental Control Website, parco.gov.gr.

The platform, as Ms. Jade Nestor said, was the first to apply the C2PA standard, which allows for technique of detection and automatic content created by AI. In addition, users are obliged to point out such content themselves, while there is a strict policy against harmful misinformation through AI.

These initiatives are a product of continuous learning and collaboration with over 100 experts worldwide and a World Council Council.

The presentation ended with a cycle of questions, which clarified that active users in Greece amount to 4.5 million. The close cooperation for the implementation of the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) was emphasized, with over 1,000 people working on it, as well as the innovative adoption of standards for automatic content produced by artificial intelligence (AI). For her part for using other users’ video excerpts, Ms. Luana Lavecchia explained that this is allowed through “Stitch” or “Duet” functions only if the original creator has allowed it. Otherwise, intellectual property rules apply.

Finally, it was confirmed that the rules of the community and the logic of the algorithm are global, ensuring a consistent security policy in all countries.