TikTok said on Monday that it is increasing the Minimum Age Requirement for livestreams on its site and introducing adult-only livestreams. Currently, livestream hosts must be 16 years or older. Users must be 18 years of age in order to utilise the platform as of November 23. According to Tiktok, the modification is a part of continuous efforts to maintain community safety.

TikTok intends to launch the adult-only livestreams in the upcoming weeks. The firm tested the option to limit livestreams to viewers who were 18 years old and older in July, and now it is officially rolling it out. It's crucial to remember that users cannot broadcast adult content using TikTok's new 18+ restriction setting for livestreams because the content is still subject to the rules of the service. Instead, it's a technique for content producers to shield young viewers from adult-targeted or perhaps dull material. 

“We plan to introduce a new way for creators to choose if they’d prefer to only reach an adult audience in their LIVE,”

“For instance, perhaps a comedy routine is better suited for people over age 18. 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.”

 A few months ago, TikTok stated that it wants to begin classifying which content is suitable for younger and older teens as opposed to adults. Now, the new setting has been introduced. TikTok had previously stated that it was working on a method to identify and block access to specific sorts of content by teenagers and that it will start asking content producers to indicate when their work is better suitable for an adult audience.

TikTok has previously stated that it wouldn't go as far as having "displayable" ratings or labels on TikTok videos, which would enable users to quickly determine whether a piece of content is appropriate for their age group. Instead, it said that it had intended to rely on back-end categorization and would depend on content providers to somehow classify their own video, hence the new adult-only livestreams.

In addition, TikTok is releasing an upgraded version of its keyword filtering tool that will remind users to update their filter list and suggest new phrases they might want to include. The app's keyword filtering feature already allows creators to limit comments they deem inappropriate, but this upgrade will expand upon that functionality.

 Explains in a blog post on TikTok:

“To do this, the tool looks at the content a creator most commonly removes from their LIVE, spotting similar words in these comments and then suggesting the host may want to add these words to their filter list,”

“When we tested this feature, we found that it nearly doubled those using keyword filtering when looking at the most popular LIVE creators.”

Additionally, TikTok is introducing a brand-new function dubbed "Multi-Guest," which enables hosts to go live with up to five additional users while using a grid or panel layout. The new function can be used to present instructional videos, answer queries, or simply to spend some quality time with others. Creators can alter a number of options after the livestream starts by tapping the three dots, including switching the camera, adding effects and stickers, censoring comments, and adding moderators.