TikTokJump to a section
What are suggested accounts on TikTok? • How TikTok suggests accounts to you • How TikTok suggests your account to others • How to turn suggested accounts on or off
What are suggested accounts on TikTok?
To help you find and follow people you might know on TikTok, we may:
• Suggest accounts to you, by showing you their videos and the Add Friends feature on your profile.
• Suggest your account to others on TikTok so they can follow you.
How TikTok suggests accounts to you
Depending on the information you choose to share with TikTok, we may show an account to you because the account belongs to:
• Someone who has turned on Contacts in the Suggest your account to others setting, added their phone number or email address to their TikTok account, and you have their phone number or email address in your phone contacts, and you've chosen to sync your phone contacts in the Sync contacts and Facebook friends setting.
• Someone who has turned on Contacts in the Suggest your account to others setting, has your phone number or email address in their phone contacts and they've chosen to sync their phone contacts in the Sync contacts and Facebook friends setting, and you've added your phone number or email address to your TikTok account.
• Someone you're friends with on Facebook, who has turned on Facebook friends in the Suggest your account to others setting, and you and this person have chosen to sync your Facebook friends list in the Sync contacts and Facebook friends setting.
• Someone you have mutual connections with on TikTok or Facebook (in select regions). You may have mutual connections with someone because you follow the same accounts, you follow accounts that already follow them, they follow accounts you also follow and those accounts follow you back, you've shared or received links from accounts they follow, or you're connected with the same accounts on Facebook.
• Someone who follows you on TikTok.
You can turn Sync contacts and Facebook friends on or off in your privacy settings.
Important things to know:
• We will continue to suggest Facebook friends to you even after your initial sync. You don't have to re-sync your Facebook friends list periodically.
• If you sync phone contacts, your account may also be suggested to others if you've turned on Contacts in the Suggest your account to others setting.
• Depending on the information you choose to share with TikTok, we may suggest accounts to you based on various combinations of the relationships above.
• If you remove TikTok's access to your phone contacts in your device settings or turn off the sync contacts setting, we'll no longer sync contacts, though we'll continue to suggest accounts to you from your previously synced contacts. If you wish to remove all your phone contacts that were synced to TikTok and stop syncing contacts on all devices, you can Remove previously synced contacts from the Sync contacts and Facebook friends setting.
How TikTok suggests your account to others
Depending on the information you allow TikTok to share, we may suggest your account to:
• Contacts
• Facebook friends
• People who open or send links to you
You can turn these settings on or off at any time from Suggest your account to others in your privacy settings.
Important things to know:
• Even if all these settings are turned off, your account may still be suggested to those you follow, interact with, or share mutual connections with on TikTok.
• If you're aged 13 to 17, your account won't be suggested to mutual connections.
• If your account is private and these settings are on, we will suggest others to follow your account, but only people you approve can follow you and watch your videos.
Contacts
When Contacts in the Suggest your account to others setting is on, your account may be suggested to others on TikTok if:
• You've added your phone number or email address to your TikTok account;
• The person we're suggesting your account to has chosen to sync their phone contacts to TikTok;
and
• Your phone number or email address is in their contacts.
Important things to know:
• If you turn on this setting, you don't need to sync your phone contacts with your TikTok account to have your account suggested to others.
• In addition, if you've chosen to sync phone contacts, then we may also suggest your account to someone whose phone number or email address you have in your phone contacts and they've added their phone number or email address to their TikTok account.
Facebook friends
When Facebook friends in the Suggest your account to others setting is on, your account may be suggested to someone else on TikTok who is your Facebook friend or who shares the same connection with you through Facebook friends (in select regions) if both of you have chosen to sync your Facebook friends list with TikTok.
People who open or send links to you
When People who open or send links to you in the Suggest your account to others setting is on, your TikTok account may be suggested to someone else on TikTok who sent you a link or who opened a link you sent to a video on TikTok. This includes links that are shared off the TikTok platform (for example, by text message or a third-party platform).
How to turn suggested accounts on or off
You can review and control how your account is suggested to others and how accounts are suggested to you in your privacy settings.
Suggest your account to others
Use this setting to control if your account is suggested to Contacts, Facebook friends, and People who open or send links to you. These settings are turned on by default if you're aged 18 or older.
To change how your account is suggested to others:
1. In the TikTok app, tap Profile at the bottom.
2. Tap the Menu ☰ button at the top, then select Settings and privacy.
3. Tap Privacy, then tap Suggest your account to others.
4. Choose who you'd like to suggest your account to. If you turn on Facebook friends, then you must also sync Facebook friends following the instructions below.
Sync contacts and Facebook friends
Use this setting to allow TikTok to sync your phone contacts and Facebook friends and help you find and follow people. You can stop syncing at any time and remove any previously synced data from TikTok.
Keep in mind that if you sync phone contacts and you've turned on Contacts in the Suggest your account to others setting, your account may also be suggested to someone whose phone number or email address is in your phone contacts and who has added their phone number or email address to TikTok.
To sync your phone contacts or Facebook friends on TikTok:
1. In the TikTok app, tap Profile at the bottom.
2. Tap the Menu ☰ button at the top, then select Settings and privacy.
3. Tap Privacy, then tap Sync contacts and Facebook friends.
4. Turn the Sync contacts or Sync Facebook friends setting on or off. You can also remove previously synced data.
If you remove TikTok's access to your phone contacts in your device settings, we'll no longer sync contacts, though we'll continue to suggest accounts to you from your previously synced contacts. If you wish to remove all your phone contacts that were synced to TikTok and stop syncing contacts on all devices, you can Remove previously synced contacts from the Sync contacts and Facebook friends setting. Learn more about how your phone number is used on TikTok.