Snapchat,
the ephemeral messaging app, introduced its first parental controls Tuesday, as
social media platforms face increasing scrutiny for exposing young users to
potentially harmful content.
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Snap,
Snapchat’s
parent company, said in a blog post that its new tools would let parents see
whom their teenagers were friends with on the app and whom they had communicated
with in the previous seven days. Parents will also be able to report accounts
that their children are friends with if they violate Snapchat’s policies.
Parents will not be able to see their children’s conversations on the app.
To gain access to
the controls, people have to create Snapchat accounts and be friends with their
children, who have to agree to the controls. The company said it would
introduce additional features later, including one that lets parents see whom
their children recently became friends with. Teenagers will also be able to
notify their parents if they report accounts or content.
“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,”
Snap said in the blog post.
Snap,
Instagram,
TikTok, and other social media companies have faced questions from lawmakers,
regulators, and activists over toxic content on their platforms that has led
some young people to say the apps have worsened eating disorders and
contributed to other mental health problems. Snap has also been criticized for
how its app enables teenagers to buy drugs like fentanyl.
These issues gained
traction last year after a former Facebook employee released internal documents
showing that some teenagers appeared to feel worse about themselves after using
its products, such as Instagram. Executives from Instagram, Snap, TikTok, and
YouTube later testified in Congress over whether social media harms young
people. In March, a group of state attorneys general asked Snap and TikTok to
increase parental controls on their apps.
Other countries
have also acted to protect young people from the effects of social media. In
September, Britain instituted new child-safety regulations, which spurred
platforms such as Instagram to introduce its first parental controls.
Instagram’s parental controls let people see and limit how much time their
children spend on the app.
Snap has also
recently struggled with a declining business. Last month, the company reported
its slowest-ever quarterly growth amid a softening economy and challenges to
its advertising business.
Snapchat’s parental
controls will add to existing restrictions on how teenagers can use Snapchat.
Teenagers currently have to be mutual friends to message each other on the app,
and their profiles and friend lists are private. The app requires users to be
older than 13, and teenagers cannot change their birth year in the app until
they are 18.
The parental controls are available in the
US, Britain,
Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. They will be available in other countries
starting this fall.
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