PARENTAL CONTROL: SNAPCHAT NEW FEATURE TO HELP MONITOR TEENS’ CONTACTS

In a bid to enhance the safety of teen users, social media app, Snap Inc. is introducing a new feature to their app to allow parents to keep a check on contacts that their children engage in.

This comes after criticisms directed at the company and other social media apps on the protection of younger audiences from harmful content.

This feature, known as Family Center, was said to be in development by Snap Inc since October 2021. The feature would require parents to install the app on their devices to link their accounts and have their teens give consent via an invite.

This makes it visible to parents the people their children talk to, but not the content of messages, within the last seven days. It also allows reporting of concerns on the account.

“To help develop Family Center, we worked with families to understand the needs of both parents and teens, knowing that everyone’s approach to parenting and privacy is different. We also consulted with experts in online safety and well-being to incorporate their feedback and insights. 

“Our goal was to create a set of tools designed to reflect the dynamics of real-world relationships and foster collaboration and trust between parents and teens.”, a comment from a blog post on Snap Inc.

Aside from the new addition, Snapchat had some regulated policies on age where profiles of underage teens (usually below 18) are private, and will appear to known friends.

The company plans on adding new features to Family Center to enhance the experience and safety of both parties as well as other users of their app.