Meta has launched new parental supervision tools for Messenger, focusing on providing parents with insights and resources to oversee their teenagers’ activities on the platform. These tools, accessible through the Meta Family Center, allow parents to track their teen’s Messenger usage, receive updates on contacts, privacy settings, safety measures, and more. While parents can monitor their teen’s Messenger activities, including time spent and settings, the actual message content remains private. Meta plans to expand these parental supervision features on Messenger, ensuring parents can help their teens manage their online interactions while respecting privacy. These tools work with both unencrypted and end-to-end encrypted chats.
The initial set of tools enables parents to:
1. Track the time their teens spend on Messenger.
2. Receive updates on contacts, privacy settings, and safety measures.
3. Get notifications if their teen reports someone (if the teen opts to disclose this information).
4. Monitor who can message their teen and receive notifications of changes.
5. Control who can view their teen’s Messenger stories and get notifications of changes.
Meta aims to enhance parental supervision on Messenger by introducing additional features in the coming year, supporting parents in maintaining a balance between privacy and safety. These tools are part of Meta’s broader efforts to establish the Family Center as a centralized hub for parents, offering resources and tools to manage teens’ experiences across Meta technologies.
In addition to the Messenger updates, Meta is testing new privacy features on Instagram DMs, focusing on protecting users, especially teens. These include sending invites before messaging non-followers, limiting message requests to text-only until the recipient accepts, and introducing safety notices for adults exhibiting suspicious behavior when messaging teens.
To encourage healthy app usage among teenagers, Meta has implemented features like “Take a Break” on Instagram and notifications on Facebook to promote breaks and daily time limits. The company is also exploring a new nudge on Instagram for teens, suggesting they close the app if excessively scrolling through Reels, particularly during nighttime.
Meta is globally rolling out the “Quiet Mode” feature on Instagram, introduced earlier this year, allowing users to disable notifications, show their activity status as “in Quiet Mode,” and send auto-replies to DMs. The company has introduced new Parental Supervision tools on Instagram, encouraging teens to add their parents as supervisors, providing parents with insights into mutual friends between their teen and other accounts, and offering customization options for notifications.
These updates align with Meta’s commitment to creating a safer online environment, fostering open dialogues between parents and teens, and empowering users to manage their online experiences effectively.
