Grooming is a big problem on TikTok, a social media platform know for its young user group. To better protect children and teenagers, the service has now introduced a minimum age for direct messaging.

And yet the new rule comes with a big flaw: It relies on the honesty of children.

TikTok users under the age of 16 will no longer be able to send and receive direct messages as of April 30, the video platform says, announcing new measures to protect younger users.

Anyone affected by this will receive a notification in their app and be given the chance to download their chat history before access to messages is turned off.

However from the point of view of protecting minors, this new rule only works when children honestly state their age when registering.

Countless videos of children singing in their bedrooms have reportedly drawn predators to the China-based platform.

TikTok has set a minimum age of 13 years in the terms of use, and yet you have to set your age yourself. TikTok won't check if you're lying, meaning children will still have the chance to pretend they're older.

For now, the responsibility still falls to parents: Anyone who suspects their child is chatting with people on TikTok can intervene by turning on "family safety mode" which allows them to turn on and off features and specify that they only chat with schoolfriends, for example.

To do this, you'll need to install TikTok on your own phone and activate this mode in the settings under "digital wellbeing". A QR code is then displayed, which the child will have to scan with their smartphone.

This connects the apps and the child agrees that TikTok use may be regulated. However, parents cannot see what content their child is watching or what messages and comments they are receiving or sending.

 - dpa