Snapchat gives more control to parents over sensitive content

Snapchat Family Center has added a new feature that gives parents more control over the content on their kid’s feeds. The new feature is known as Content Controls, and it’s now accessible in the Family Center settings.

Protecting children from harm and abuse has become a concern for parents, online platforms, and lawmakers. Social media platforms allow parents to regulate the content their kids watch.

The lawmakers also want platforms to be more transparent about the data they collect and measure to protect underage users. As one of the teenagers’ most popular social apps, Snapchat now provides parents with even more tools to moderate content.

The Content Controls on Snapchat Family Center allows parents to filter out Stories from specific publishers or creators. Deciding on whether the Stories are sensitive is all on parents, and Snapchat would not intervene.

Snapchat Family Center adds Content Controls to allow parents to regulate content

In order to activate Content Controls, parents first need to have an existing Family Center set up with their teen. Then, they need to select “Restrict Sensitive Content” in the Family Center settings.

“We hope these new tools and guidelines help parents, caregivers, trusted adults, and teens not only personalize their Snapchat experience but empower them to have productive conversations about their online experiences,” Snapchat said.

The platform also specified examples of “sensitive or suggestive” content in its Content Guidelines for community members. The guideline warns publishers and creators that their content might be restricted due to new Content Controls.

Meanwhile, Snapchat says it’s working on new AI tools for its Family Center. Last month, the app revealed its AI chatbot called My AI, which is only available to Snapchat+ users and relies on OpenAI technology. The experimental chatbot gives parents more insights into their children’s usage of My AI.

Snapchat now has over 750 million monthly active users and is immensely popular among teenagers. However, it has already come under the FBI and DOJ radar over online drug sales accusations. The platform now hopes to reduce children’s exposure to harmful content by giving more content regulation tools to parents.