How to safely share your story

People can have multiple reasons behind why they want to share their story, such as wanting to feel "seen", seeking support, creating awareness, reducing loneliness, or feeling bored. It's also important to think about what part of your story you want to share and how you want to share it. The following questions can help you reflect on your intentions and what you want to talk about:

• What part of my story do I want to share?
• What are my reasons for sharing? What do I hope to accomplish by sharing? What is my goal?
• What makes me care about this topic? Does posting this align with my personal values?
• How do I want to share it? In a video, story, LIVE, song, comment, or other way?
• What style do I want to use to share? An educational style, musical style, POV style, or some other style?

The act of sharing your story can affect your mental health even before you hit post. When creating content, you will have to think back and reflect on your experiences. Doing so could trigger all kinds of feelings, such as sadness, nostalgia, shame, or pride. This experience will be different for everyone, so the following questions can help you think through how making the content could affect you:

• How do I usually feel when thinking about my well-being story?
• How will I feel seeing or listening to myself recorded, when editing, or in playbacks?
• Do I have a plan for coping with whatever emotions come up for me?
• Would sharing my story be helpful and not harmful to myself or others?

It is important to know what your boundaries are before you share your story. Some people are comfortable sharing personal details. Other people are more comfortable discussing their well-being at a surface level. The following questions can guide you in figuring out your boundaries:

• How would I feel about strangers, classmates, co-workers, community members, friends, or family knowing:
• Intimate details about my mental or physical health?
• The mental or physical health condition or diagnosis I have?
• The mental or physical health treatments I have tried or used?
• The ways my mental or physical health has affected school, work, or relationships?
• Who do I want to share this with? Only family and friends? A wider audience?
• How would I feel if my content or story was spread beyond my intended audience? Such as someone screen-recording, taking a screenshot, or showing it to others.
• How would I feel if my story reached far and wide? What if it was shared on the news or on other online spaces?
• If your story is about someone else, how would they feel if they saw your post? Have they given permission for you to share a story about them?

It is helpful to think through how people may respond to your story so that you can prepare yourself. You may want to create a coping plan, consult your mental or medical healthcare provider, or set up different tools and features on TikTok. Check your settings to protect your privacy when sharing content. Here are some things to consider:

• In the short-term:
• Did I get the consent from anyone I mention in my story to talk about them? If I did not, how will that effect our relationship?
• How will sharing affect my classmates, co-workers, community, friends, or family? How will they react to my post? Will it cause any issues? Will they support me?
• What positive, negative, and neutral outcomes could come out of sharing? How would I cope with these outcomes? How would I cope with negative feedback?
• In response to my post, others may share difficult stories with me or share opinions that could be hard to hear. Am I ready to support them and listen? Or have I planned what boundaries I will have?
• Have I taken precautions to ensure that the information I share is reliable and accurate?
• Do I have my privacy settings ready to limit my post to the audience I choose? Or to limit how they can interact with me?
• If I'm planning on making multiple posts about my story, what effect will that have on me or others?
• In the long-term:
• Looking back, how will I feel about sharing my story in 2 months? 1 year? 5 years?
• How would I feel about future romantic partners, friends, family, schools, or employers seeing my post?

After going through the four steps above, the final step is to make your decision on what you want to share, how you want to share, who you want to share to, and how to cope with it all. Sometimes you may discover you don't want to share. Sometimes you may be excited to share. Sometimes you may still be unsure. No matter what, you are in control of making that decision for yourself!

• If you do decide that you want to share your story, the rest of this guide will be helpful for you in the process of sharing it. You will find general helpful advice, advice on discussing certain topics, prompts to inspire you, and information about tools and features to protect your well-being on TikTok.

• Stories are powerful. If you want to share information about your health condition or diagnosis, centering the narrative within your own experiences is helpful. The context of your lived experience illustrates this information more clearly than just sharing a list of symptoms.
• Well-being is not straightforward. There are ups and downs, new milestones and setbacks. Acknowledging the highs and lows, rather than painting an overly straightforward picture of recovery, can be helpful. Additionally, highlighting that health is complex helps correct misconceptions and reduce stigma.
• Center the conversation around what works for you. When coping skills, treatments, or products help us with our own well-being, often we want to share these with others. It's important to frame this advice focusing on how it helped you, rather than making broad claims, to avoid confusing viewers.
• Be upfront about your professional background. Presenting yourself as credentialed or an expert in mental health beyond your own personal experiences can confuse viewers.
• Join the recovery communities on TikTok. If your post is about recovery, use recovery-oriented hashtags to join the TikTok conversations that are already happening. Check out the special advice sections below for information on the hashtags different communities use.
• Be mindful about how details of your story could affect viewers. This is especially important for topics such as suicide, self-harm, disordered eating, and body image. Check out the special advice we give on these topics below.

• Seek consent. Before discussing other people's health information, it is important to seek and respect their boundaries around sharing. Don’t reference someone else unless they have given you permission to share. If discussing someone who has died, seek consent from their family or loved ones.
• Use non-stigmatizing language. Calling people with health conditions "crazy", "psycho", "lunatic", "cripple", "mad", or "nuts" is harmful. They reinforce negative stereotypes and stigma.
• Always respect and follow the language of the individual(s) you are speaking about.
• Generally, "person-first" language is considered respectful and encouraged if you do not know how someone refers to themselves.
• For example, say "person with a mental illness" instead of "mentally ill person" and "person with alcohol use disorder" instead of "alcoholic".
• Some individuals and groups prefer "identity-first" language as they view their health condition as a part of their identity.
• For example, some people use "autistic" over "person with autism spectrum disorder" and some people use "disabled" over "person with a disability".
• When in doubt, don't be afraid to directly ask other people what language they use!

• Encourage help-seeking. Encourage people who are struggling to reach out for help and support. You can include links and contact information for different forms of support, such as crisis lines, peer support lines, and advocacy organizations.
• Be empathetic and validating. People who share are usually seeking peer support and encouragement, so be considerate. At times you may not know what to say or do to support other people. You may be tempted to give a simplistic reply such as, "don't worry, be happy", "everything's gonna be alright", or "cheer up, you'll be fine". While these phrases may seem uplifting, they may dismiss someone's non-positive experiences and feelings.
• Set boundaries. If you notice that supporting other people is taking a toll on your own well-being, don't be afraid to take a break.

• Be mindful about how details of your story could affect viewers. Sharing details and images about suicide or self-harm tools and methods, suicide locations, and suicide notes and messages is harmful and not allowed on TikTok. Such content can be distressing and accidentally give new ideas to struggling community members. This is very relevant for suicide deaths by celebrities or well-known individuals. It can unintentionally glamorise suicide.
• Use non-stigmatizing language. Even if you do not mean it to come across this way, terms like "committed suicide", "successful/unsuccessful suicide", or "failed attempt" can come across as judgemental.
• "Committed" implies that suicide is criminal and attaches a stigma to it. This may discourage suicidal individuals from seeking help. It also affects people who have lost loved ones in this way. Instead, say "died by suicide".
• Terms like "successful" or "failed" frame suicide as a desirable outcome. Use phrases like "non-fatal suicide attempt" or "survived their suicide attempt".
• Join the recovery communities on TikTok. If you are posting about recovery or awareness, use recovery-oriented hashtags to join broader TikTok conversations (e.g., #recoverytok, #mentalhealthawareness). Please note that some content may be triggering for viewers and viewer discretion is advised.
• Keep it recovery-oriented. Portraying suicide and self-harm as a glamorous, romantic, heroic, praiseworthy or a practical option is harmful, and can lead others to consider suicide and self-harm. Maintaining the message that suicide is preventable and support is available will be helpful for others.
• Suicide and self-harm are not straightforward. Attempting to identify a single cause of suicide and self-harm is overly simplistic. Understanding and sharing that suicide and self-harm are likely the result of a mix of factors can help correct misconceptions and encourage safe, constructive discussions. Avoid speculating about the causes behind other people's self-harm, suicide attempts, or death.

• Be mindful about how details of your story could affect viewers. Sharing details or images about extremely low calorie diets, disordered eating behaviors, and body checking trends are harmful and not allowed on TikTok. Beyond what is not allowed on TikTok, it is important to keep in mind how details about disordered eating may also inadvertently turn into a "how-to manual" for people at risk.
• Specifics and details about food and calorie consumption, exercise routines, and weight-management methods are especially risky. Sharing "before and after" photos, body weight, clothing size, body mass index (BMI), or other measurements can incentivize unhelpful comparisons.
• Encourage inclusivity of bodies and food. Referring to foods, body shapes and sizes, clothing sizes, and body weights as "good", "bad", "unhealthy", and "healthy" can make viewers feel ashamed and reinforce harmful narratives. In general, it is best to not comment about someone's appearance or body as it could be distressing- even if meant as a compliment.
• Always respect and follow the language of the individual(s) you are speaking about. Pay attention to the words people use to describe themselves or directly ask them which terms they use. For some people, they may interpret the word "fat" or "obese" as an insult. For other people, the words "fat" or "obese" are neutral descriptors or a valued part of their identity.
• Use recovery-oriented terms. Using the same slang terms that are used by communities who promote eating disorders is not advised, even when denouncing these communities. Using these slang terms can unintentionally give viewers the tools to find this harmful content online.
• Join the recovery communities on TikTok. If you are posting about recovery or awareness, use recovery-oriented hashtags to join broader TikTok conversations (e.g., #recoverytok, #mentalhealthawareness, #edrecovery). Please note that some content may be triggering for viewers and viewer discretion is advised.

• Always respect and follow the language of the individual(s) you are speaking about. Typically, we encourage person-first language. This means that we don’t define a person based on a behavior or diagnosis. Person-first language is nonjudgmental and treats people who are experiencing addiction with respect and empathy.
• While we choose not to use certain words like "sober" or "addict" (as some people may find them stigmatizing), at TikTok we support people identifying themselves as they prefer. We encourage people to find community through their self-determined identities.
• Problem Gambling is not straightforward. Attempting to identify a single cause of problem gambling is overly simplistic. Problem gambling is a result of a mix of factors. It is not because someone has a character flaw. It is a treatable disorder.
• Join the recovery communities on TikTok. We’ve seen our community embrace hashtags, like #gamblingrecovery and #gamblingawareness which offer hubs for conversation, learning, and encouragement. Hashtags such as #recoverytok and #addictionawareness offer a space to discuss recovery and awareness experiences. These cover a wide array of topics, not exclusive to gambling (some content may be triggering for viewers and viewer discretion is advised).

• Always respect and follow the language of the individual(s) you are speaking about. We encourage person-first language. This means that we don’t define a person based on a behaviour or diagnosis. Using person-first language is an important step toward reducing stigma toward people who use substances.
• Here are some examples of ways that switching our words can help to reduce stigma against substance use:
• Use:
• A person who uses drugs instead of "drug user"
• Person 'living with or experiencing addiction' or 'Person with a substance use disorder' instead of "Addict", "Junkie", or "Drug abuser"
• Person in recovery instead of "former addict"
• Substance use disorder instead of "drug addiction"
• Person with alcohol use disorder or Person using alcohol in dangerous ways instead of "alcoholic"
• Substance-free, person in recovery, or abstinent instead of "sober" or "clean"
• Maintained recovery instead of "stayed clean"
• While we choose not to use certain words like "sober" (as some people may find them stigmatising), at TikTok we support people identifying themselves as they prefer. We encourage people to find community through their self-determined identities.
• Substance use is not straightforward. People using substances dangerously do not do so because they "lack disclipine." Substance use disorder is a treatable disease caused by a lot of factors. Understanding that problem substance use is likely the result of a mix of factors can help correct misconceptions and encourage safe, constructive discussions.
• Everyone's journey is different: For those in recovery, it can be full of ups and downs and is a unique journey for everyone. Try to avoid comparing your experiences to other people as it might make you feel bad instead of understanding that your recovery is a day to day journey.
• Join the recovery communities on TikTok. We’ve seen our community embrace hashtags, like #recoverytok, #sobertok, #addictionawareness, #sobercurious as well as #sobernative, #blackandsober, #soberlatina, #sobergay, #soberlesbian, #transandsober, #quitsmoking, and #fentanylawareness which offer hubs for conversation, learning, and encouragement. Please note that some content may be triggering for viewers and viewer discretion is advised.

• Be mindful of the details you include. Avoid graphic details and content that may cause harm to the victims, their families, friends, community, or others impacted by the tragic event. If sharing this content, provide sensitive content warnings, and use tools to blur graphic images as well as the identities of individuals in your post.
• Focus your content on victims, survivors, and responders. If posting about a tragic event caused by an individual(s), focus on the victims, survivors, and responders and avoid sharing information about the individual(s) responsible for the tragic event. Additionally, do not share any content produced by the individual(s) responsible for the tragic event, which could inspire others to conduct violence.
• Be cautious when discussing violent or hateful behavior. When sharing or discussing violent or hateful behavior, provide context that shows you are not supporting the behavior. This can include commenting on the negative impact on communities.
• Ensure you're sharing information that's reliable and accurate. To help prevent the spread of misinformation, seek out credible sources, such as a government institution or authoritative news agency, and verify information before sharing.
• When responding to a tragic event, consider the following questions:
• Could this content have a negative impact on people viewing it (e.g., exposing them to violent images or conspiracy theories)?
• Am I sharing information that has not been provided by a trusted source, such as a government department or an authoritative news agency?
• Could this content unintentionally harm the victims, their families, friends, community, or others impacted by this event?
• Could this content contribute to the current state of fear or panic surrounding the tragic event?
• Does the content include graphic audio, text, or images that could be harmful or distressing to others, particularly those impacted by the event?
• Does this content blame a certain community or communities for the tragic event?
• When responding to a tragic event caused by individual(s), could this content promote the actions of the individual(s) responsible for the tragic event or inspire others to carry out violence?

• By default, accounts for individuals under 16 are set to private, which means you can approve or deny follower requests, and only people you’ve approved as followers can see your content. Accounts for individuals over 16 start out as public, meaning anyone on TikTok can view your videos and post comments or start a Duet to engage with the content you’ve created and shared. You can easily change this in your Privacy settings.
• If you're experiencing high volumes of unfriendly or unwanted comments on your content, we recommend that you turn on 'Comment Care Mode' via your privacy settings so that you can better manage and control the comments that you receive.

• Don’t want to be exposed to a certain type of content on the For You page? Long-press on the video and select "Not interested". Click into "Details" next to block specific hashtags used in the video.
• Further limit unwanted content by adding or modifying keyword and hashtag filters under 'Content preferences' in your settings.

• Direct Messages (DMs) provide a way for community members to communicate privately. Direct Messages can be sent and received from "Everyone’, Friends’ (creators that you follow, who also follow you back), or ‘No one.’ Only registered accounts who are 16 and older are eligible for Direct Messages, and it’s one of the features that a parent or guardian can control directly when Family Pairing is turned on.

Duets allow users to create videos responding to others’ TikTok content. You can decide who has permission to Duet or Stitch with you. You can choose one setting for all videos or adjust the setting for each video individually. For users under 16, the feature is set to ‘No one’ and cannot be changed. For 16 to 17-year-old users, this feature is set to ‘Friends’ but can be changed to ‘No one’ or ‘Everyone’. Learn how

• In settings, comments are set to ‘Friends’ for users under 16 by default. This means only those who follow you and who you follow back can comment on your videos. You can change this to 'No one' to stop others from posting comments on your videos. For users aged 16 and up, this function is set to ‘Everyone' and can be changed to fit your preferences.

• With comment filters turned on, offensive comments will automatically be hidden. You can also create a custom list of keywords so that comments containing those words will be hidden automatically. You can decide who can comment on your videos in general by adjusting your Privacy settings. Learn how.
• Filter selected comment types (also called Spam and offensive comments) allows you to hide offensive or spammy comments unless you approve them.
• Keyword filters hide comments with words or phrases that you've selected.
• Filter All Comments setting hides comments on your videos unless you approve them.
• Filter Comments from Unfriendly People allows you to filter comments that are similar to comments that you have previously disliked, reported or deleted
• Filter Comments from Strangers allows you to filter comments from people not on your follower or following list.

• You also have the ability to delete any inappropriate comments posted on your videos. Just tap and hold the comment, then choose "delete." Learn how.
• You can delete a follower at any time or permanently block an account from viewing your content or sending you messages. Learn how.

• If you see content that violates TikTok’s Community Guidelines, you can report it in-app by following these steps.