Project Overview
TikTok faced a $370 million fine in the EU for mishandling child data and a $5.3 million fine in the US for violating COPPA regulations. As its influence grows, TikTok is facing stricter regulatory scrutiny. Additionally, with user growth slowing, capturing younger users early in their lifecycle has become increasingly critical. Therefore, TikTok wants to deliver what the younger generation seeks in a easy and accessible way.
To prevent further fines and comply with laws in Tennessee, Florida, and California, TikTok introduced a parental consent feature. This enables underage users in Tennessee and Florida to access TikTok and those in California to enjoy a personalized experience.
All parental consent features has gone live on January 1, 2025, in alignment with the effective date of the respective state regulations. TikTok aims to fully comply with legal requirements while anticipating a slight decrease in the number of new users and overall user engagement time.
1. Tennessee and Florida passed parental consent legislation to be effective on Jan 1st 2025
2. CA SB976 requires all feeds to be non-personalized for minors unless it has obtained verifiable parent or guardian consent to provide it, by Jan 1st 2025.
Given the time of 3 months for design and development of various parental consent project, the most efficient way is building a parental consent module. By integrating the consent module into different flows, TikTok can quickly ensure law compliance. For this project, I specifically focus on the three regulations that effects on Jan 1st, 2025 in Tennessee, Florida, and California.
During the initial kickoff meetings with PMs, I recognized that while this project might negatively impact TikTok's core metrics, it is essential to proceed. Our focus is on minimizing the negative effects while simultaneously strengthening a positive public image among users and parents.
1. Meet all legal compliance by Jan 1st 2025
2. Conversion rate: Age Assurance serves as a proxy metric for ID verification, with a proactive completion rate of approximately 39%. This feature aims to maximize the conversion of underaged users to TikTok while aligning with the proxy metric.
3. Guardrail metrics: Minimize account deactivations and mitigate the impact on core metrics (DAU/DNU)
The Problem Statement
Later, I collaborated with PMs and content designers to dive deeper into the development and design of this feature, which focuses on two key user groups: underaged users and their parents.
While prioritizing the experience of underage users is essential, I emphasized that addressing the challenges faced by parents is equally important. The usability of the flow and the emotional experience of both end-users significantly impact the overall success of the permission-requesting process. After analyzing the needs and concerns of both groups, I identified two additional design challenges:
· Teens' experience: How might we ease underaged users' negative emotions when faced with the parental consent requirement ?
· Parents' experience: How might we build trust between TikTok and parents swiftly in the consent request process ?
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Teens
Need:
1. Obtain access to the full functionality of TikTok as quickly as possible.
2. Understand the reasons behind changes to privacy settings.
3. Stay informed about the status of the permission request so they can get on TikTok once the permission is granted
Pain Points:
1. They need a method to appeal on wrong location and their age, given that the location service is provide by vendor with only 80% accuracy.
2. Waiting for permission time can be very long if the parents forget to grant permission.
3. Underaged creators wants to storage all data for later publish even if they can't get parental consent.
👨
Parents
Need:
1. Clearly understand the purpose of the permission request.
2. Grant permission quickly and effortlessly.
Pain Points:
1. Don't know how their children's privacy will be protected on TikTok
2. Concern about their children becoming addicted to TikTok.
3. Lack of access to legal documents required for age verification for some parents.
4. Multiple emails with parental consent link sent by teens can be confusing sometime.
1. Compress permission request process into less screens
2. Notifying users on every updates on permission status & request results to facilitate the process
3. Email for parents
4. Personalized experience change toast
5. tiktok.com webpage treatment
This project ensures TikTok's compliance with new laws upon their implementation. The impact on the acquisition rate of new PC users and the data on existing DAUs is still under monitoring.
Given the short timeline and fast-paced nature of this project, the team adopted many methods from Lean UX. Collaboration among stakeholders played a crucial role in its success. I learned that establishing a shared understanding early on is essential. The PM, designers, R&D, and legal teams aligned their goals to ensure everyone was working toward the same product objective, enabling a streamlined development process.
Additionally, I learned the importance of building a frequent feedback loop through documentation and regular review meetings. Critiques on prototypes were diverse, with each piece of feedback contributing meaningfully to facilitating and refining the design process.
Unlike projects that bring positive impacts to the product or directly boost revenue, the goal of this project is to mitigate the direct negative effects of legal compliance on product essential metrics. However, in the long run, a positive and responsible approach to the product will bring more sustainable benefits to TikTok.
During the design process, I often feel like designing is like dancing with handcuffs on. When having multiple design solutions, the best option for users is not always the best option for the product. To make a decision requires a comprehensive consideration of business goals, legal compliance, project timelines, and the needs of stakeholders to create a well-rounded design.