TikTok unveils new family guide to support safer digital habits

TikTok has partnered TOUCH Cyber Wellness to launch a family digital check-in guide, a practical toolkit aimed at helping parents and teens build safer and more open digital habits at home.

The initiative supports Singapore’s "Digital for life" movement and builds on the 2025 “Our digital journey” programme. It was officially unveiled by guest of honour Madam Rahayu Mahzam, Minister of State for Digital Development and Information.

Designed as a practical resource for families, the guide encourages parents and teens to reflect on their digital behaviours together, rather than relying on one-way conversations around online safety.

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The family digital check-in guide includes a printable toolkit that helps families assess their digital habits, understand different online behaviour styles through self-discovery profiles, and use conversation prompts to agree on shared boundaries for safer online experiences. It also provides an overview of TikTok’s in-app safety features.

“For many families today, digital life is no longer separate from everyday life — it’s where young people learn, socialise, create, and discover who they are,” said KahnJi Siriprapa Weerachaising, outreach and partnerships manager at TikTok Trust & Safety.

“That’s why building healthier digital habits requires more than rules alone. It requires open conversations, mutual understanding, and practical tools that families can explore together,” she added, noting that the initiative was developed in collaboration with TOUCH Cyber Wellness and in support of IMDA’s Digital for Life movement.

Alongside the guide, TikTok has also introduced an interactive digital hub, which offers a mobile-friendly version of the toolkit and serves as an entry point to its safety resources. The hub also features a video by creator Denise Teo (@supercatkei), which offers a personal look at how Singaporean families navigate digital safety in everyday life. The video will be made available following the launch event.

The launch also featured a panel discussion titled “Navigating our digital world together”, moderated by Weerachaising.

The session brought together Shem Yao, head of TOUCH Cyber Wellness, content creator Denise Teo, and Dr Natalie Pang, head of the department of communications and new media at the National University of Singapore.

Panellists highlighted the need for a shared approach to digital wellbeing across families, educators, industry and government, with three key themes emerging: resilience over restrictions, curiosity over judgement, and ongoing dialogue rather than one-off conversations.

Dr Pang said young people should be equipped with digital resilience to help them navigate online spaces independently, while Teo emphasised the importance of curiosity-led conversations between parents and teens to better understand online trends. Shem added that digital wellness should be treated as a continuous journey rather than a single conversation.

Following the launch, a series of “Our digital journey: The community edition” workshops will be rolled out from July in Bukit Batok East, training more than 100 parents and teens.

The initiative reflects TikTok’s ongoing efforts to work with government agencies and community partners to support safer digital experiences in Singapore. Taking things further, TikTok also highlighted that teen accounts on its platform include more than 50 preset safety features and privacy controls, including private accounts, content restrictions and default daily screen time limits of 60 minutes.

The family digital check-in guide complements existing resources such as TikTok’s Safety Center, the guardian’s guide and teen safety center, and is available via the TikTok Singapore Digital Hub as well as in-app when users search for digital safety-related terms.

The launch comes months after TikTok and X were placed under enhanced supervision by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) in April 2026, following what the regulator described as “serious weaknesses” in their systems for detecting and removing harmful content, including child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) and terrorism-related content.

According to IMDA’s findings, there was a 120% increase in CSEM cases on X targeting Singapore users, rising from 33 in 2024 to 73 in 2025. On TikTok, 17 cases of terrorism-related content were detected from Singapore-based accounts for the first time in 2025. The regulator noted that both platforms only removed flagged content after intervention, highlighting gaps in proactive detection systems.

Photo courtesy of 123RF. 

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