Meta Announces New Features for Parental Control on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger

Meta has recently made an announcement regarding new features for parental control on its Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger platforms.

These updates aim to give parents and guardians enhanced tools to support and supervise their teenagers' online activities while still respecting their privacy.

The company's primary goal is to establish a central platform, the Meta Family Center, where parents can access various resources and tools to manage their teens' experiences across Meta platforms.

Meta Parental Supervision Tools

One of the major updates involves the introduction of parental supervision tools on Messenger. These tools enable parents to gain insights into their teen's Messenger usage, such as the amount of time spent on messaging and information about message settings.

It is important to note that these tools do not grant parents access to the content of their teen's messages. The initial set of parental supervision tools will be available in the US, UK, and Canada, with plans for further expansion globally in the future.

Meta has committed to adding more features over the next year to help parents guide their teens in managing their time and interactions effectively while maintaining a balance between privacy and supervision in both unencrypted and end-to-end encrypted chats.

Meta is also testing new messaging privacy features on Instagram, particularly focused on protecting teenagers from unwanted interactions.

Safety Notices are already in place to alert teens when adults with potentially suspicious behavior message them, and restrictions prevent individuals above the age of 19 from sending private messages to teens who do not follow them.

In addition, Meta is testing additional features to limit interactions and messaging between users who do not follow each other. These changes require individuals to send an invite requesting permission to connect before being able to message someone who does not follow them.

Additionally, the message request invites will be limited to text-only, preventing sending photos, videos, voice messages, or making calls until the recipient accepts the invitation. These measures aim to reduce the receipt of unwanted media content from unfamiliar accounts.

Healthy App Usage

To promote healthy app usage habits, Meta has implemented various features to nudge teens to manage their time on Facebook and Instagram more mindfully.

For instance, notifications will now be sent to teens after 20 minutes on Facebook, encouraging them to take breaks and set daily time limits. Meta has also explored the introduction of a new nudge on Instagram, suggesting that teens close the app if they are scrolling through Reels during nighttime hours.

Meta has added more features to the Parental Supervision tools on Instagram. Parents now have increased visibility into their teens' experiences on the platform, including information about the accounts their teen follows and is followed by.

Moreover, parents can see how many friends their teen has in common with those accounts, facilitating offline conversations about these connections.

Meta has also provided parents with greater customization options for notifications, allowing them to choose which information they receive and how frequently they obtain them from the Parental Supervision feature on Instagram.