Snapchat has just officially launched Family Center, a parental control system that contains several tools allowing parents to monitor the activities and attendance of their children on the social network.
Parents are right to be concerned about their children’s social media presence. Sexual predators, inappropriate content, toxic influences, cyber-harassment, fake news, conspiracy theses, dangerous challenges… The threats are numerous, and the platforms are on the radar of the authorities, like TikTok and its sometimes deadly challenges. Just last year, the “Facebook Papers” affair, documents published by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, pointed the finger at the networks, highlighting the toxic impact they could have on the youngest. – such as spreading conspiracy theories and fake news, or suggesting violent and toxic content.
Since then, the platforms have been trying to find solutions. For example, Instagram uses an algorithm to find out the age of its users in posts – for example for birthdays. Since June, the social network has asked for verification when someone tries to change their date of birth from under 18 to over 18 – it must go through three “guarantors” or submit to an artificial intelligence. After more than a year of development, it’s Snapchat’s turn to allow parents to virtually monitor their children’s dating without being too intrusive, thanks to the Family Center.
Snapchat: a communication tool to watch
Snapchat, which allows users to share photos and videos, is a popular social network for minors. With his little ghost and his iconic yellow color, he was notably the instigator of stories and filters, which can now be found on almost all other platforms. “Today, Snapchat is a central communication tool for young people and as our community continues to grow, we know parents and guardians want other ways to keep their teens safe,” said Snap Inc. in a press release.
The social network has already implemented functions in recent months aimed at offering more security to its youngest users. For example, there is a system that requires minors to be friends with each other to start chatting together. Likewise, their friend lists are private and they cannot have a public account on the platform. Finally, additional protections prevent strangers from finding them and getting in touch with them. But following increased pressure from its users, Snapchat introduced the Family Center, which is aimed at parents and teens aged 13 to 18 – the minimum age to be allowed to use the app.
The Family Center to monitor the dating of the youngest
The Family Center allows you to tell parents who their children are exchanging messages with, but without saying more about the content of their conversations. Thus, they have access to the list of friends of their offspring and know with whom they have communicated. However, the privacy of the youngest users is still preserved, since the referring adults can neither access the messages sent and received, nor view the snaps exchanged. Snap explains on its site that “Family Center is designed to mirror the way parents interact with their teens in the real world, where parents typically know who their teens are friends with and when they’re hanging out — but don’t listen to their private conversations.” Parents can, however, let Snapchat know – on a confidential basis – which accounts they consider to be of concern.
To benefit from this function, parents must have a Snapchat account and be friends with their offspring, and can then invite the latter to join them on the tool. Parents then have access to their child’s entire list of friends, as well as a list of the accounts the child has interacted with in the last seven days. For now, Family Center is only rolling out in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Snap Inc. plans to launch it in the rest of the world starting next fall. Additional features are expected to arrive in the coming weeks. Teens will be able to notify their parents when they report an account or content, and adults will more easily see who the young user is adding as a friend.