TikTok has announced it will block young users on the social networking platform from using certain beauty filters on photographs. The filters allow users to edit photos and do things like make people's skin look clearer, their eyes a little bigger or their lips a little fuller. Some filters also allow users to change their skin color, and it can be hard to see when a photograph has been edited in this way. People under the age of 18 will be blocked from using these filters, some of which are created by users and others that are made by the app. TikTok announced the changes after a report by Internet Matters, a children's online safety organization. The organization found that these beauty filters could be damaging to children's mental health because they put young people under pressure to look a certain way. This can damage children's self-esteem and cause anxiety, experts say. Christine Grahn from TikTok said on LinkedIn: "If our users don't feel safe, they won't bring their true selves to TikTok and the platform just wouldn't be the same." One TikTok user told The Guardian in 2022 that she had considered getting cosmetic surgery after a period of using beauty filters on the app. Fun filters that allow children to add dog noses or rabbit ears to images will still be available to use. One problem with the ban is that not all users enter their real ages when signing up to TikTok. The company said it would soon be trying out new machine learning systems that could help find out when users had entered the incorrect age. TikTok is under pressure to stop under 13s from using the platform by giving false dates of birth. Children's safety charities want all social media sites to do more to make the platforms safe spaces for young people.