TikTok has unveiled new safety and wellbeing features that allow users to have even more control over their TikTok experience.
The new tools allow people to dial up content they want to see more of, dial down or prevent content they don’t want to see, and help them wind down at night with guided meditation exercises.
In addition to the investment in online safety features, TikTok has donated $375,000USD in donations to leading mental health organisations across Australia and New Zealand.
Among the features is Manage Topics which allows users to dial up, or down, how much content they see of a particular topic. The settings won’t eliminate topics entirely but can influence how often they’re recommended as peoples’ interests evolve over time, according to the platform.
The feature aims to add to the way people shape their feed every day – including liking or sharing videos, searching for topics, or simply watching videos for longer.
To help people stop seeing certain content altogether, we’re doubling and improving our Smart Keyword Filters. Filters allow the community to input words that they don’t want to see, for example if someone has just been on a holiday to Japan, they can exclude travel content by inputting keywords like ‘Japan’ and ‘travel’.
TikTok users can now include up to 200 keywords as a filter and our new technology uses AI to capture additional videos featuring similar words, synonyms, and slang variations to prevent them from being shown to users. The platform’s global community has used our existing keyword filters to exclude more than 200 million different words.
Adam Presser, Head of Operations & Trust & Safety at TikTok, said: “The For You feed is what makes TikTok a place like no other to discover your favourite new interests or grow a thriving community.
“With our new features, you can manage topics you want to see in your For You feed and limit keywords and hashtags you’d rather skip, so that it’s easier than ever to find creators, hobbies, and content you love.”
The new features will be available for adult and teen accounts, and build on on the tools and safeguards already available on TikTok including Not interested, Refresh your feed and Family Pairing.
To help TikTok users unwind, the platform has also introduced an in-app guided meditation feature that encourages people to switch off at 10pm.
During Sleep Hours, people will have their scrolling interrupted by a meditation exercise. Adults can choose to turn on this feature in their settings. For teens under 18, this feature is turned on by default after 10pm and if teens ignore the first reminder, we show a second, harder to dismiss, full-screen prompt.
These features are designed to reflect best practices in behavioural change theory by providing positive nudges that can help people develop balanced long-term habits. In our testing, 98% of teens kept the meditation experience switched on and parents who want to block their teens’ use of TikTok at night can use Family Pairing.
Supporting mental health organisations
Research by youth mental health service ReachOut Australia shows 73% of young Australians turn to social media to support their mental health.
To help bolster the work of credible mental health organisations around the globe, TikTok is donating more than $2.3 million USD to assist them in making even more authoritative, engaging, and uplifting mental health content. their parents and carers, providing a safe online place to chat anonymously, get support, and feel
Six Australian and New Zealand mental health organisations are being supported through the 2025 Mental Health Media Education Fund including:
• ReachOut Australia (@reachout_aus) – a free, digital mental health service for young people and better.
• The Man Cave (@themancave_aus) – a preventative mental health and emotional literacy charity aiming for a world in which every man has healthy relationships, contributes to his community, and reaches his full potential.
• Australians for Mental Health (@afmh) – a community driven, national organisation fighting to make mental health a national top priority, all across Australia.
• PROJECT ROCKIT (@PROJECTROCKIT) – Australia’s youth-driven movement against bullying, hate, and prejudice.
• #chatsafe (@chatsafe_au) – a suicide prevention program from Orygen that aims to empower and equip young people with skills to communicate safely online about self-harm and suicide.
• Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand (@mhfnz) – a charity that works towards creating a society free from discrimination, where all people enjoy positive mental health & wellbeing across New Zealand.
In combination with training provided by TikTok, each organisation will each receive $75,000USD in advertising credits, helping foster an environment where people can discuss emotionally complex topics in a supportive way.