Brussels rarely bothers with default settings. This time it's dealing with exactly that - and for good reason: the default setting is the decision the platform makes for you.
Fact
The facts: On 24 July 2026 the European Commission sent TikTok preliminary findings of a DSA breach regarding minors. The findings: a child can set their profile to 'public' - visible to anyone on the internet, including people without an account; content from 16-17-year-olds gets recommended to all users through For You; even with a private profile, the child's picture is public, and the profile itself can be found through follower lists. The Commission recommends that children's content be visible by default only to users the child has approved, and that it not enter recommendations. TikTok can respond in writing; if confirmed, the fine reaches up to 6% of global annual turnover. Proceedings have been running since February 2024. Source: European Commission, 24.07.2026.
I know this mechanic from the building side: 'public by default' isn't an oversight, it's a growth engine - more visible content, more recommendations, more time in the app. That's why the change won't come from good will; it comes from a regulator with a calculator.
The default setting is a decision someone made instead of your child.
If you have a child on there: don't wait for Brussels - the procedure will run for months. Open their profile settings tonight. Who sees the content, who can message them, whether it's even public. Five minutes of work, and it covers exactly the holes the Commission spends four pages describing.
The visual is generated code-art, no third-party images.