Snapchat aims to make its platform safer with more parental controls

The family center will offer more visibility to the parents regarding who their teenage children are chatting with and their privacy settings.

Following major tech platforms improving their systems to better safeguard minors, Snapchat is also preparing to introduce its own set of features. The “family engagement” tools, launching in the coming months, will allow parents to better visualize their child’s activities on the app. The family center will also offer more visibility to the parents in terms of who their teenage children are chatting with and their privacy settings. In an interview with WSJ,Snap CEO Evan Spiegel spoke about his vision for helping parents hold their teens’ hands while the kids could safely use Snapchat.

“One of the goals with the product is to open up a dialogue between parents and their children about their experiences on the app,” said Spiegel, hoping to help parents protect their children, as they are the most vulnerable to the bad elements online. Spiegel also emphasized that Snapchat has been keeping its users’ profiles private by default, unlike other social media platforms until recently. He also said that the company does not market its app to kids under 13 years.

Snap is hiring a “Global Head of Platform Safety,” who will be in charge of keeping the company’s safety strategy organized and proactive. The platform has had the parental tools for a long time now, but they aren’t as in-depth as third-party services such as Bark. However,third-party tools currently have limitations on popular devices such as iPhones, and allowing them to collect information on teens fortheir safety makes it even more dangerous.