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| Snapchat wants to make itself safer for teens |
With Instagram and Facebook increasingly questioning how to interact with their teen audiences, Snapchat is taking steps to provide a safer experience for younger users by developing its Family Safety Toolkit.
In an interview this week, CEO Evan Spiegel spoke about his vision to empower parents to help their teens navigate Snapchat.
Spiegel said one of the product's goals is to open up a dialogue between parents and children about their experiences through the app, hoping to be consistent with parents when similar platforms negatively impact teens.
In this interview, Der Spiegel also mentioned that an internal system of parental control called Family Center is under development.
However, the company is not ready to release detailed information about its advanced parental controls yet. However, she said, the parenting tool is designed to provide parents with better information and keep their children safe in a way that does not jeopardize privacy or security. It complies with the law and is made available to families on the platform for free.
Last month, the company announced the appointment of a global platform security director responsible for the orderly and proactive maintenance of the company's security strategy.
"Our overall goal is to educate young people so they can make the right decisions to improve their safety and help parents explore the digital world with their children," a company spokesperson said in a statement.
Snapchat builds an internal parental control system
Parental tools are available on the platform. But it's not as deep as third-party services like Bark or Apple's recently recommended system for iMessage.
However, third-party tools currently have limitations on popular devices such as the iPhone. Allowing third parties to collect information about teens in the name of children's safety sets a dangerous precedent for privacy and security.
Although it may be helpful for parents to have more options for supervising their children. Spiegel said parents should have a conversation about their children's technology and learn how to navigate those platforms.
Spiegel noted the more private nature of the platform as a tool for connecting with friends. He pointed out that user accounts are private by default, which distinguishes it from some of its competitors.