Snapchat CEO, Evan Spiegel revealed that Snapchat is preparing to introduce family safety tools in the coming months. He said that the Snapchat family safety tools will basically serve as a family centre that allows parents more access to how adolescents use the service. It would give parents more visibility into who their teenage kids may be talking to on Snapchat and their privacy settings.
Spiegel stressed the private nature of Snapchat and how it makes it different from other social platforms; “I think the entire way this service is constructed promotes a safe experience regardless of what age you are, but we never market our service to people under the age of 13.”
Snapchat family safety tools will educate and empower the young generation
A spokesperson from Snap confirmed the news that the Snapchat family safety tools will combine both an educational component as well as tools meant to be used by parents; “Our overall goal is to help educate and empower young people to make the right choices to enhance their online safety and to help parents be partners with their kids in navigating the digital world.”
He further added; “When we build new products or features, we try to do it in a way that reflects natural human behaviours and relationships — and the parental tools we are developing are meant to give parents better insights to help protect their kids, in ways that don’t compromise their privacy or data security, are legally compliant and offered at no charge to families within Snapchat.”
Read more: Facebook Postponed Instagram for Kids App Amid Strong Criticism
Scrutiny of social media companies
Snapchat announced the new family safety tools as tension rises between U.S lawmakers and social media firms to protect minors on their services, social media companies have been trying to get ahead of the ongoing crackdown by introducing rules to protect minors and give more power in the hands of parents.
Due to Facebook’s fiasco, most of the social media platforms used by teens have implemented parental controls or have adjusted their settings to be more private. TikTok introduced a family safety feature in 2020 followed by Instagram introducing teen safety tools and Google launching new parental controls on YouTube.
Source: TechCrunch
