TikTok adds automatic captions to videos in accessibility push

[Chewy_fox]

TikTok creators will soon be able to add automatically generated captions to their videos as the app attempts to make itself more accessible. The option to add auto captions will appear in the editing page after a video has been uploaded or recorded. TikTok says the feature will be available in American English and Japanese at first, but it plans to add support for more languages “in the coming months.”

The platform is adding the feature to make TikTok videos easier to watch for deaf and hard of hearing viewers. However, a TikTok dialogue box also says the feature is useful for anyone watching videos “when it’s difficult or inconvenient for them to listen to audio.” Creators can edit their captions after they’ve been automatically generated to fix any mistakes, and viewers can turn captions off via the captions button on the share panel.

TIKTOK PLANS TO ADD SUPPORT FOR MORE LANGUAGES “IN THE COMING MONTHS”

As automatic transcription has gotten better over the years, services have increasingly been adding it to their software to make content more accessible. Last month, Google built the feature into Chrome, allowing it to generate captions for audio played through the browser. The company’s Live Caption system is also available as a system-wide feature for select Android devices. Video chat services like Zoom and Google Meet can auto-generate captions during calls, and Instagram also seems to be testing a similar feature for its videos.

TikTok’s auto captions are only its latest accessibility feature. The app also warns creators about videos that might trigger photosensitive epilepsy and provides filters for viewers to avoid these videos. A text-to-speech feature was also added late last year.

FEATURED VIDEOS FROM THE VERGE

Mustang Mach-E: the next most popular EV

Ford’s electric Mustang Mach-E is a huge bet on the future, and after spending a week with the EV, The Verge’s Sean O’Kane thinks that bet will pay off. It’s fun to drive, solidly built, and puts technology front and center without messing it up. It’s the best electric car on the road not made by Tesla or Porsche, which is a huge deal considering the project was only spun up a few short years ago.

[Silent Watcher]

Avoid unnecessary posts such as 'Thank you', 'Welcome', etc. Such posts will be deleted and user will be warned if it happens again. If caught spamming, the following actions are applicable -

• First time - Warning
• Second time - 5000 Points will be deducted
• Third time - Ban for 7 days
• Fourth time - Permanent Ban

If the post helped you, reward the user by reacting to the post like this -