TikTok announces new child safety measures

(KYMA, KECY/ CNN) - TikTok has launched some measures designed to protect teen users by no longer sending push notifications to 13 to 15 year-olds after 9 pm.

Also, 16 to 17 year-old users won't receive them after 10 pm and teens under 18 years old now also have direct messaging disabled by default and must actively change that setting to receive them. Meanwhile, users younger than 16 don't have access to direct messaging at all.

TikTok requires users to be at least 13-years-old before signing up for an account, but it's not clear how the company verifies age.

Officials there say they use methods like keywords and reports from other users to flag underage accounts.

TikTok claims to have deleted 7.3 million suspected underage accounts during the first quarter of this year.