Community controls

Updated: June 20, 2025

Community controls help you define who can interact with you or your content on TikTok. Keep in mind that the following settings may vary depending on your region.

Manage who can view your content

On TikTok, you can apply different privacy settings to each post you share, whether your account is private or public. Your visibility settings help determine how your content is seen on TikTok. You can also adjust your settings later if you've changed your mind.

Public accounts

You can choose if your content is visible to:

  • Everyone (people on or off TikTok)
  • Friends (followers you follow back)
  • Only you
Private accounts

You can choose if your content is visible to:

  • Followers
  • Friends (followers you follow back)
  • Only you

Learn more about post privacy settings in our Help Center.

Control who messages you

Direct messaging (DM) helps you connect with your friends and community on TikTok. Direct messaging is only available to registered account holders who are at least 16 years old. You can control who can send you messages on TikTok. Parents and guardians can also set restrictions on this feature through Family Pairing.

People who are 16 to 17 years old

The following people can message you:

  • Friends (followers you follow back)


The following people can send you a message request:

  • Potential connections (your followers, people you follow, and other people you may know)
  • Others on TikTok

Keep in mind that if you're 16 or 17 years old, your direct message and message request settings are set to Don't receive by default.

People who are at least 18 years old

The following people can message you:

  • Friends (followers you follow back)
  • Accounts you follow


If you don't want to receive messages from these accounts, you can choose to block them.


The following people can send you a message request:

If you don't want to receive message requests from these accounts, you can change your message request settings to Don't receive.

Learn more about direct messages in our Help Center.


Decide who can comment

TikTok helps connect a diverse community where people are free to express themselves. However, you can decide who can comment on your posts and Stories. Depending on your age, we offer different comment controls:

People who are 13 to 15 years old

Whether your account is private or public:

  • This control is set to Friends (followers you follow back). This means that people you follow on TikTok and who follow you back can comment on your posts.
  • You can change this control to No one in your settings. You can't change this to Followers (if you have a private account) or Everyone (if you have a public account).
  • When you create a post, you can turn off Allow comments to stop others from commenting on it.
People who are 16 to 17 years old

If you choose a private account:

  • This control is set to Followers. This means that people who follow you on TikTok can comment on your posts.
  • You can change this control to Friends (followers you follow back) or No one in your settings.
  • When you create a post, you can turn off Allow comments to stop others from commenting on it.


If you choose a public account:

  • This control is set to Everyone. This means that anyone with a TikTok account can comment on your posts and Stories.
  • You can change this control to Friends (followers you follow back) or No one in your settings.
  • When you create a post, you can turn off Allow comments to stop others from commenting on your posts.
People who are at least 18 years old
  • Everyone (only for public accounts): If you choose Everyone and you have comments turned on, then anyone can comment on your posts.
  • Followers (only for private accounts): If you choose Followers and you have comments turned on, only people following you on TikTok can comment on your posts.
  • Friends (followers you follow back): If you choose Friends and you have comments turned on, then only your friends can comment on your posts.
  • No one: If you choose No one, then comments will be turned off on all your existing posts at one time in your privacy settings. This means you don't have to go to each of your posts individually to turn off comments.

Keep in mind that if your parent or guardian manages your account through Family Pairing, this might change how you adjust your comment settings by yourself. Learn more about comments in our Help Center.


Filter comments

In addition to comment controls, we also offer people the ability to use comment filters. You can turn comment filters on or off at any time.

Filter all comments

The Filter all comments setting hides all comments on your posts, unless you approve them.

Note: This feature isn't currently available to everyone.

Filter unwanted comments

The Filter unwanted comments setting hides comments on your posts that may be offensive or spam, unless you approve them.

Filter keywords in comments

The Filter keywords in comments setting allows you to enter a custom list of keywords that you want to hide. Comments on your posts that have those keywords will then be hidden, unless you approve them.

Learn more about filtering comments in our Help Center.


Turn off, delete, or report comments

You're in control of your content, including the comments that people may leave on your posts.

Turn comments off

You can turn comments off for each of your existing posts or before you publish new content. Learn more about turning comments off in our Help Center.

Delete a comment

You can remove unwanted comments on your posts by deleting them individually or in bulk. Learn more about deleting comments in our Help Center.

Report a comment

We're always working to maintain a safe, positive, and friendly community on TikTok. If you encounter a comment that you think goes against our Community Guidelines, you can report it. Learn more about reporting comments, as well as TikTok LIVE comments, in our Help Center.

Keep in mind that you can also manage comments on TikTok LIVE as a creator or moderator. Learn more about managing comments on TikTok LIVE in our Help Center.

Block an account

TikTok allows you to block people from interacting with you or your content for any reason. When you block an account, that person will not be able to view your posts or engage with you through direct messages, comments, follows, or likes. There's no limit to the number of people you can block on TikTok.


Learn more about blocking someone in our Help Center.

Remove a follower

You can remove someone from following you, which means that your content will no longer appear in their Following feed.

Learn more about removing followers in our Help Center.

Decide who can view your liked content

You can prevent others from seeing the posts you've liked on TikTok to keep your content viewing preference private.

Keep in mind that your liked posts are hidden from your profile by default when you create a TikTok account. Learn more about managing who can view your liked posts in our Help Center.

Control who can download your posts

You can manage your post download settings to have more control over how your content is shared. When you turn the download setting off, people can't download videos or photos you've already posted, or your future content.

People who are 13 to 15 years old

This control is set to off and can't be changed, even if you have a public account.

People who are at least 16 years old
  • If your account is private, this control is turned off by default.
  • If you have a public account, you can turn this setting on if you'd like to allow your posts to be downloaded by other people on TikTok.

Learn more about managing who can download your posts in our Help Center.

Choose who can Duet or Stitch your content

You can control who can Duet or Stitch your videos, as well as manage Duets and Stitches created with your videos. With the content reuse setting, you can turn Duet or Stitch on or off on individual posts or in your privacy settings. Keep in mind that this will also affect who can Duet, Stitch, or create stickers with your posts, and add your post to their Story.

People who are 13 to 15 years old
  • No one can Duet or Stitch with your videos and this can't be changed. This control is set to Only you in your privacy settings.
  • You can Duet or Stitch with other people's videos.
People who are at least 16 years old
  • If you choose a private account:
    • No one can Duet or Stitch with your videos and this can't be changed. This control is set to Only you in your privacy settings.
  • If you choose a public account:
    • This control is set to Friends (followers you follow back). This means that people you follow on TikTok and who follow you back can Duet or Stitch with your videos.
    • You can change this control to Everyone or Only you in your privacy settings.
    • When you post a video, you can turn off Allow reuse of content so others can't Duet or Stitch with your videos.

Learn more about Duet and Stitch privacy settings in our Help Center.