WhatsApp expands parental controls for teen accounts with new safety features
WhatsApp has introduced new parental control features specifically designed for teen accounts. Parents can now manage who can add their teens to groups, restrict who can view their Status updates, and limit their interaction with channels and Meta AI. These updates follow the platform's earlier rollout of parent-managed accounts for pre-teens.
First reported 19 hours ago · latest update 2 hours ago
WhatsApp on Wednesday, September 30, rolled out new controls for parents to stay on top of who their children are connecting with on the instant messaging platform. The new suite of tools are optional and designed to help parents and teens choose the WhatsApp user experience that is right for them, according to the Meta-owned platform.
For instance, parents will be able to choose specific privacy settings on WhatsApp Teen Accounts such as who can see the teen user’s profile photo or add them to groups. Additionally, they can choose to be notified when their teen joins or leaves a group, or when a group their teen is in adds new members.
They will further be able to choose how their teen can use Channels, whose Status updates they can see, and who can see theirs. In order to change these settings, teens will need their parent’s approval via a PIN also set by the parents. The teen-focused safety protections also extend to Meta AI, with an option for parents to choose between the default 13+ setting and a stricter 'Limited Content' option.
The announcement by WhatsApp comes as governments around the world move to ban or restrict children’s access to social media in response to growing concerns over social media addiction and online safety of minors. Also Read | WhatsApp puts several user accounts ‘under review’ for 24 hours “We're building these controls step by step, based on what families tell us they need.
All of these controls are being designed to support open conversations about how to use WhatsApp between parents and teens, while keeping everyone's personal messages private,” WhatsApp said in a blog post. The setup process is fairly simple and straightforward. Parents need to input a single PIN to start getting alerts and being in the loop.
The new safeguards do not affect WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption, which means that the teen’s personal messages and calls remain private and inaccessible to anyone outside of the chat, including WhatsApp. Also Read | India asks WhatsApp to pause usernames rollout, company says safeguards are in place In March this year, WhatsApp also introduced new parent-managed accounts for under-13 users.
In order to set up these accounts, the user has to be under 13 years of age or the minimum age required in their country to use the platform. Meanwhile, the parent or guardian has to be older than 18. Parent-managed accounts are available on devices that have the latest version of WhatsApp for iPhone or Android.
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WhatsApp adds new parental controls for Teen Accounts: Here’s what changes
2 hours agoWhatsApp adds new parental controls for teen accounts
Parents can limit how teens use channels, whose Status they can see, who can see their Status updates, and control who can add teens to groups.
19 hours ago · Ivan MehtaWhatsApp expands parental controls to teen accounts with group alerts, Meta AI restrictions
After introducing parent-managed accounts for pre-teens earlier this year, WhatsApp today expanded its parental controls to teen accounts, adding group activity alerts and additional restrictions for Meta AI. Here are the details. more…
6 hours ago · Marcus Mendes