TikTok is more than just an app for comedy shorts, and now has a WhatsApp-like group chat feature that can bring together up to 32 friends.
Group chats aren’t entirely fresh for the social media platform. They have been around since 2021 in a more limited form, and weren’t available to users in some countries.
“Watch, comment, and react together in real time, making every interaction more dynamic and connected,” says TikTok of the new feature.
Worried about your kids using group chats? There are some limited safeguards in place.
Users under 16 can’t participate in group chats, just as they can’t use direct messaging either.
Group chats can also only be started with people you follow, who also follow you. That same relationship needs to be in place for people added to a group.
This does not mean a group needs to be exclusively populated by people who all follow each other, but they won’t be able to join “unless the group includes at least one mutual friend”.
TikTok has also taken some basic steps to try to stem the worst excesses of cyberbullying. If a teenager (aged 16 to 17) creates a group, they will be able to review anyone invited to the group by another member. And the number of times “a message can be forwarded” is limited, too.
TikTok has not put any hard numbers on this limit, suggesting it may change based on how the user base adopts these new features.
This latest update to TikTok also brings stickers to direct messages and chats. People can make their own TikTok stickers, too, although they are then uploaded to the platform’s sticker store for others to access.
Surprised TikTok is starting to sound like WhatsApp with a video-sharing site attached? Direct messaging has been a part of TikTok since its early days. However, the platform banned direct messaging for under-16s in 2020 amid concerns from regulators the platform was being used extensively by pre-teens.
The feature opened up significantly in 2023, letting people receive messages from anyone – if desired – rather than just existing friends.
