At Snapchat, they want to help parents keep their teens safe on Snapchat. In 2022, we introduced Family Center, a set of tools allowing parents to see who their teens are chatting with, report concerns confidentially, and control the content, ensuring a safer experience for teens on Snapchat.
Snapchat was created to let people talk with friends just like they do in person. Family Center is designed to mirror the real-world connection between parents and teens. It gives parents a peek into who their teens are talking to while respecting their private chats. We collaborated with families and online safety experts, using their input to regularly improve the Family Center with new features.
Parents can now easily see important safety and privacy settings for their teens. They set default standards to be strict, and parents will have visibility into things like:
- Teens can decide who sees their Stories—either all friends or a select group of close friends and family.
- Contacts are limited to friends or, if chosen, phone contacts. If a teen shares their location on Snap Map, it’s voluntary and limited to friends only, letting them see where friends are, explore interesting places, and view content from Snap Shatters globally.
Parents Control For Snapchat AI
Parents can now control My AI, our chatbot, to limit its responses when chatting with their teenagers. This feature adds to the existing safety measures in My AI, which already prevent inappropriate or harmful replies. If teens misuse the service repeatedly, temporary restrictions may be applied. The system is also aware of users’ ages to enhance safety.
Easy Access To Family Center
We’ve made it simpler for parents who might not be familiar with Snapchat to find the Family Center. Now, parents can easily access the Family Center directly from their profile or by going to settings, which is in the top-right corner of the parent’s profile. This change aims to assist both parents and teens who are new to Snapchat in locating and joining the Family Center more easily.
Snapchat is excited to keep collaborating with parents and online safety experts to ensure that Snapchat remains an enjoyable and secure place for everyone in our community.
