Over the course of two weeks, two devastating back to back typhoons hit the Philippines. On November 1st, Super Typhoon Rolly (Goni) the strongest typhoon ever recorded in recent history struck the southern region of the Philippines. An estimated two million Filipinos have been affected, many of whom lost their homes and livelihoods. Ten days later, Typhoon Ulysses (Vamco) swept through many of the same provinces previously devastated by Typhoon Rolly, including Metro Manila and parts of Central Luzon leaving widespread flooding and power outages.

Many areas are still struggling to recover from the aftermath of these calamities. Homes and livelihood across various provinces were lost to floods, strong winds and rain. LGUs and other organizations continue to mobilize and provide assistance to all who were affected by these typhoons, but many are still in desperate need of help.

In line with its mission to inspire creativity and bring joy, TikTok has pledged to donate US$300,000 (approximately Php15M) to support typhoon relief and rehabilitation efforts. US$150,000 has been allocated to the Philippine Red Cross for their onground mobilization efforts providing hot meals and other urgent necessities in affected communities.

“The Philippine Red Cross is always committed to reaching out to the helpless and to the most vulnerable. TikTok’s donation will surely go a long way in further strengthening PRC’s humanitarian efforts to alleviate the suffering of those who were impacted by the recent calamities. You can be sure the Red Cross will continue to be there for the people affected,” said Senator Richard Gordon, Chairman of the Philippine Red Cross.

On Saturday, November 28 at 7:00pm, TikTok will also host the #TikTokTogetherPH virtual live fundraising concert featuring The Itchyworms, Mayonnaise, Kyline Alcantara, Rico Blanco, and Ella Cruz among other guest artists and local creators, joining one another on the app to help Filipinos in need. Proceeds from the virtual event will be turned over to partner organizations, with TikTok supplementing funds raised up to US$150,000.

“We stand with all Filipinos during their time of need and we want to do what we can to help all those affected get back on their feet. TikTok has been the go-to platform for happy and inspiring moments, now we are extending this mission even beyond the app,” TikTok said.

As it spreads joy and inspiration to millions of people on the platform each day, TikTok is also committed to doing their part in helping the broader community, through these efforts and through organizations like the Philippine Red Cross.

TikTok is available for download on Google Play and the App Store.

TikTok, the leading destination for short-form mobile videos, is enhancing privacy and browsing options for families on the app by building on its existing Family Pairing features.

As more families continue to turn to internet platforms like TikTok to stay entertained, informed, and connected, parents now have the option to manage their teen's online experience by linking their TikTok account to their teen's, and setting discoverability and safety controls. Developed for parents, this suite of new features is intended to jumpstart digital wellbeing and online safety education for families.

The new features include:

Search: This allows parents to directly control whether a teen can search for content, users, hashtags, or sounds on the app.
Comments: Parents may decide who can leave comments on a teen's videos - Either all users, friends only, or no one.
Discoverability: This lets you regulate whether your teen's account is private or public. With a private account, your teen can choose who can see their content. When the account is set to public, anyone can search for your teen’s profile, and view their content.

Liked videos: Here, you decide who can view the videos your teen liked.

"Parenting a teen's digital life can be daunting and many parents feel as though they're playing catch-up when it comes to the latest technology and apps their teens use. Working with our community and industry partners, we are committed to helping facilitate important conversations within families about internet safety," said Arjun Narayan, Director Trust & Safety, TikTok, Asia Pacific. "Family Pairing was developed to help parents build upon their online safety education and define the experience that is best for their families."

Family Pairing, which allows a parent to link their TikTok account to their teen's, already offers features such as Screen Time Management, Restricted Mode, and Direct Message regulation to provide parents with insight and control over how their teens use TikTok.

Over the past year, TikTok has taken steps to improve and enhance its teams, policies, controls and educational resources. Along with its tools for families, the platform continues to strengthen its youth safety and well-being policies. Just recently, TikTok added more guidelines and resources to support body positivity within the community, and remove harmful content such as hateful ideologies. Sending of images or videos in comments or messages is also not allowed on TikTok, because studies have linked the spread of child sexual abuse material to messaging on apps, especially those with encryption.

TikTok has developed global partnerships to protect against child exploitation and to remove such content, terminate accounts, and report cases to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and local law enforcement agencies. Protecting minors – online and offline – is highly important and requires collaboration between platforms, governments, and child safety organizations. This is why TikTok supports the implementation of the Voluntary Principles to Counter Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, which offers a framework that can be consistently applied across sectors and services to respond to changing behaviors and protect young people.

For families who want to learn more about online safety, TikTok has created several resources, including its Youth Portal, Parents page, and educational safety videos. TikTok remains committed to the security of its community – especially the youth – and will continue to develop resources, tools, and policies as it aims for the highest level of safety.