Don’t Want to Deal With Weird DMs on TikTok? Here’s How to Turn ‘Em Off

People who create content for TikTok are, in many cases, focused on growing their audience and becoming more and more popular. That means that the more shares, comments, and “likes” they get, the better. TikTok also gives people the ability to send creators DMs (direct messages). Ideally, DMs can be used to communicate one-on-one with fellow TikTokers and share a productive convo.

Of course, this is the internet. We’re therefore forced to admit that sometimes, DMs are anything but pleasant for the people receiving them. Luckily, TikTok makes it relatively easy to control who is allowed to contact you with a direct message. If you’re looking to turn off your DMs, here’s what you need to know.

As part of their plan to create a safe online space for everyone, TikTok only allows your friends to send you DMs through the app. That means that you need to follow them and they need to follow you in order to communicate privately. So if one of your so-called friends is sending you unwanted messages, you can simply unfollow them or remove them from your followers.

To remove them from your followers, go to their profile, tap the three dots in the upper right-hand corner, then select the “remove this follower” option. They will not be notified that you have removed them as a follower, but they will be able to see that they no longer follow you if they visit your profile. 

To unfollow another user, simply go to their profile and tap the “Following” icon to unfollow them. Again, they won’t be notified that you have unfollowed them, but they will no longer be able to see you on their followers list.

You can also elect to turn off your DMs completely. If you do, that means that no one — friends included — will be able to send you a message on TikTok (though they will still be able to comment on your videos if you have comments turned on). If you want to choose this nuclear option, go to your profile, tap the three dots in the upper right-hand corner of your screen, then select “Privacy and safety.” Then, tap “Who can send you messages” and toggle the selection from “Friends” to “Off.”

As you probably already know, turning off your DMs on TikTok will not block direct messages on other platforms. If you want to thoroughly block someone from contacting you via any internet outlet (like Twitter or Instagram), you’ll have to turn off your DMs on your other social media accounts as well. 

At the end of the day, turning off your DMs is a good way to keep your TikTok experience as positive as possible. It can also be a good way to give yourself a bit of a respite from the constant barrage of messages you may otherwise be subjected to. After all, do you really need people to be able to contact you in 12 different ways? Probably not!