A TikTok glitch seems to be allowing some teens access to the TikTok Shop tab despite the e-commerce offering supposedly being restricted to users 18 and older, per TikTok’s policy. The issue occurs when a teen initially lies about their age when signing up for TikTok by entering a date of birth that indicates they are already 18 or older but is later required by a parent to pair the account with their parent’s using TikTok’s built-in parental controls. Despite the pairing process, the teen can still access the adult-only feature.
Parental Controls and Family Pairing
TikTok’s parental controls, or Family Pairing, allow an adult to manage a teen account’s screen time, content choices, and account privacy after connecting the two accounts in the app. To use Family Pairing, the teen accesses the feature from the app’s settings and chooses “Teen” when asked, “Who is using this TikTok account?” on the setup screen. The final step is to scan the parent’s QR code after the parent goes through the same steps on their end, responding to the question that they are the “parent” and then displaying their QR code to be scanned.
A glitch in Parental Controls
Setting up parental controls, which effectively turns critical aspects of account management to a parent or guardian, should signal to TikTok that the younger user must have earlier lied about their over-18 status, but it does not. Instead, the “Shop” tab that appears alongside TikTok’s For You and Following feeds on the app’s homepage continues to be accessible to the minors despite their account now being under parental control.
TikTok Exposure to Adult Content
Because the Shop is an 18+ experience, parents should know that their teen may encounter adult items in the app at times, including sex toys (including those dubbed “massagers” as well as those disguised as makeup brushes), lingerie, hemp products and other supplements, weight gainers, vape pens, and more. According to an earlier Business Insider report, TikTok also had trouble keeping various banned goods out of the marketplace.
Testing the Policy Loophole
There is no longer a place to verify the date of birth associated with a TikTok account in the app, so TechCrunch tested the policy loophole around TikTok Shop by creating a new TikTok account for a user over the age of 18, then pairing it with an adult’s account through Family Pairing. This mirrors what could easily be a real-world situation where a teen who lied about their age to create a TikTok account is later required by their parent to let them enable parental controls.
TikTok Test Results
As required by the setup steps, we indicated that the test account belonged to a “teen.” The adult’s account could pair with the teen’s and adjust various settings. However, the TikTok Shop tab remained on the teen’s screen in multiple configurations, except when Restricted Mode was turned on. There, too, we ran into problems.
Family Pairing Adjustments
Using the parent’s TikTok account, we tried adjusting settings using the Family Pairing feature. To speed up the process of the changes, we rebooted the teen’s phone to simulate. The TikTok app was “restarted” after each setting was applied.
TikTok Accessibility of Shop Tab
When turning off the dedicated STEM feed for the teen, we found the Shop tab remained accessible to the account, even after the changes were applied. This is because the user had initially indicated they were over 18, even though they’ve opted into parental controls, which should now suggest otherwise.
Restricted Mode Complications
Unfortunately, we could not get the teen’s account to switch to Restricted Mode without completely uninstalling TikTok from the device and logging back in with the teen’s account information. Similarly, we couldn’t remove Restricted Mode from the teen’s account without uninstalling the app.
Loopholes and Security Concerns
The tests indicate there are loopholes in TikTok’s ability to apply effectively. Parental controls and policies in a situation where the teen user initially lied about their age, as many likely do. This could give the parent a false sense of security, as they believe they are making decisions to make the app safer for their teen—like forcing their teen to use Family Pairing and enabling a Restricted Mode.
TikTok Parental False Sense of Security
Even though the changes may eventually be applied in some cases, the Shop tab remains accessible unless. Restricted Mode is enabled — and getting the latter switched on was a more convoluted process, according to our tests.
TikTok’s Response
When reached for comment, TikTok was not initially aware of how this loophole would be possible. The company stressed that Shop would be restricted to users 18 and up, as per its policy, upon further research. TikTok found that the app does not consider the age of users who said they were upon sign-up. When deciding when to show TikTok Shop. Instead, TikTok expects users to provide their correct age. The company points out that TikTok offers tools to report possible underage accounts. Those suspected to be held by people under the age of 13.
Recommendations for Improvement
We’re surprised that enabling parental controls on a teen’s account (i.e., one with the fake age) does not remove it. Their access to Shop, even though doing so, clearly indicates the user is not an adult. At the very least, TikTok should prompt the parent to confirm their child’s age. The Family Pairing setup process alerts them that their child has entered. A birthdate that would make them older than 18 could affect other choices regarding the content shown on the app.
Future Implications
It’s unclear whether TikTok will attempt to close this loophole. TikTok Shop may eventually become a powerhouse for the social app, even if it loses money soon. The feature appeals to younger shoppers and can scale sellers’ access to millions of users. With TikTok Shop, influencers’ videos are connected directly. The products they hawk create more impulse buying opportunities and offer. A Gen Z-friendly alternative to Amazon, Temu, and other e-commerce retailers.
