Snap has launched tools for parents to monitor their children’s contacts.
Snap has launched tools for parents to monitor their teen’s online activity. Snap, the parent company of the famous messaging app Snapchat, launched its first parental control features on Tuesday, allowing parents to see who their teens are chatting to but not the content of their conversations.
The unveiling of the new Family Centre function comes at a time when social media giants have been chastised for failing to protect children. Snap, along with its digital contemporaries TikTok and YouTube, testified before US Congress in October, accusing the businesses of exposing young users to bullying or directing them to hazardous content.
Instagram also appeared in a Senate hearing on children’s online safety in December, after a Facebook whistleblower published internal papers claiming the service impacted some kids’ mental health and body image.
Parents may invite their children to join Family Centre on Snapchat, and after the teens agree, parents can see their kids’ friends list and who they have messaged on the app in the last seven days. They can also report any suspicious accounts in confidence.
Parents, on the other hand, will be unable to read private information or messages sent to and from their teens, according to Jeremy Voss, Snap’s head of messaging products, in an interview.
“It achieves the correct balance between promoting safety and well-being and maintaining autonomy and privacy,” he said.Snap aims to release more features in the coming months, such as notifications to parents when their child reports abuse from a user.
Snap already had some teen safety policies in place prior to Family Centre. Snapchat profiles for people under the age of 18 are private by default, and they only appear as a suggested friend in search results if they have friends in common with another user. To sign up, users must be at least 13 years old.Snap’s new options follow Instagram’s launch of its Family Centre in March, which allows parents to see which profiles their teens follow and how much time they spend on the app.