Snapchat introduces in-app Family Centre tool

Ashley Regan
By Ashley Regan | 9 August 2022
 
What family center looks like for parents and teens. Source: Snapchat

Snapchat has introduced an in-app tool, Family Centre, to help parents get more insight into who their teens are friends with and communicating with on Snapchat, without revealing any of the substance of those conversations.

Family Centre is designed to reflect the way that parents engage with their teens in the real world, where parents usually know who their teens are friends with and when they are hanging out, but don’t eavesdrop on their private conversations.

Snapchat said: “Our goal is to help empower parents and teens in a way that still protects a teenager’s autonomy and privacy.

“We look forward to continuing to work closely with families and online safety experts to keep improving family centre over time.”

In the coming weeks Snapchat will add a new feature that will allow parents to easily view new friends their teens have added.

On Family Centre, parents can confidentially report any accounts that may be concerning directly to Snapchat’s Trust and Safety teams.

Snapchat is also equipping parents and teens with new resources to help facilitate open conversations about online safety.

To help develop Family Centre, Snapchat consulted with experts in online safety and wellbeing, and worked with families to understand the needs of both parents and teens and incorporate their feedback and insights.

In the coming months, Snapchat plans on adding additional features to Family Centre, including new content controls for parents and the ability for teens to notify their parents when they report an account or a piece of content.

Kathryn Carter, general manager, Snapchat APAC said: “Snapchat is a central communications tool for so many young Australians, and as our community continues to grow, we know parents and caregivers want additional ways to help keep their teens safe.

“Our Family Centre feature will help parents get more insight into who their teens are friends with on Snapchat, helping foster positive conversations about online safety within families, while respecting the privacy and autonomy of teens.”

Family Centre will roll out on August 9th in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada before targeting additional markets globally early this spring.

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