Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, has introduced a set of features aimed at boosting the online safety of 13-17-year-olds. These updates, set to roll out in the coming weeks, aim to shield teens from unsolicited contact, provide a more age-appropriate content experience, and facilitate the removal of accounts promoting inappropriate content.
The company is also releasing additional resources for families, including an updated parents' guide available at parents.snapchat.com. This guide covers the platform's protections for teens, tools for parents, and a new YouTube series offering further explanations.
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Uthara Ganesh, Head of Public Policy-South Asia at Snap, stated, "Our latest features are thoughtful in-app tools designed to empower teens to make smarter choices and openly discuss online safety. The safety and well-being of our community in India, which encompasses over 200 million users, is our paramount concern."
One of the introduced features is In-App Warnings. This feature issues a pop-up alert to a teen if someone attempts to add them as a friend without mutual contacts or without being in their contacts. The alert encourages the teen to carefully consider whether they want to connect with this person and advises against it if there isn't a basis of trust.
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The platform already mandates that a 13-to-17-year-old must share multiple mutual friends with another user before they can appear in search results. The company stated, "This bar is being raised to require an even larger number of mutual friends, determined by the number of friends a Snapchatter has. The aim is to further limit the potential for teens to connect with unfamiliar individuals."
Furthermore, a new Strike System has been introduced to combat accounts promoting age-inappropriate content. This system enables the immediate removal of detected or reported inappropriate content. Accounts repeatedly attempting to bypass rules will face bans, according to Snap.
