Skip to main content

Instagram and Messenger get more parental supervision tools

Meta is releasing additional tools for parents and guardians who want to know more about how their children are interacting with apps like Instagram, Messenger, and Facebook.

Messenger for Kids already includes a lot of similar features, but this latest update is for parents of teens who use Messenger.

Recommended Videos

One of the new features offers parents to view the amount of time their teen is spending on Messenger and the information on their teen’s message settings. However, Meta noted that parents will be unable to view the content of their child’s messages.

The new set of supervision tools will also let parents view and receive updates regarding changes to their teen’s Messenger contacts list, and also their privacy and safety settings.

They’ll also get notified if their teen reports someone via the app, though only if they opt to share such information.

Additionally, parents can also see who is allowed to message their child (friends, friends of friends, or no one), and also view who can see their teen’s Messenger stories, and receive a notification if the setting changes.

The Parental Supervision feature for Messenger is available in the U.S., U.K., and Canada now, with more countries promised access in the coming months.

New features for Parental Supervision on Instagram include ways to encourage teens to allow their parents to supervise their account “as an extra layer of support.”

Besides seeing which accounts their teen follows and is followed by, parents can now see how many friends their teen has in common with those accounts, which Meta said could pave the way for offline conversations regarding those connections.

Meta is also launching new ways to protect people on Instagram from unwanted interactions via Direct Messages.

It means that before a person can message someone who doesn’t follow them, they now have to send a text-only invitation to get their permission to communicate.

Instagram already shows a safety notice when it detects a suspicious adult messaging a teen, and it is also supposed to prevent people over 19 years old from sending private messages to teens who don’t follow them.

Meta said the updates are “designed to help teens feel in control of their online experiences and help parents feel equipped to support their teens,” adding that it plans to add more safety features over time.

If you’re a parent or guardian interested in other supervision software for PC, Mac, iOS, and Android, Digital Trends has you covered.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Bluesky finally adds a feature many had been waiting for
A blue sky with clouds.

Bluesky has been making a lot of progress in recent months by simplifying the process to sign up while at the same time rolling out a steady stream of new features.

As part of those continuing efforts, the social media app has just announced that users can now send direct messages (DMs).

Read more
Reddit just achieved something for the first time in its 20-year history
The Reddit logo.

Reddit’s on a roll. The social media platform has just turned a profit for the first time in its 20-year history, and now boasts a record 97.2 million daily active users, marking a year-over-year increase of 47%. A few times during the quarter, the figure topped 100 million, which Reddit CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman said in a letter to shareholders had been a “long-standing milestone” for the site.

The company, which went public in March, announced the news in its third-quarter earnings results on Tuesday.

Read more
Worried about the TikTok ban? This is how it might look on your phone
TikTok splash screen on an Android phone.

The US Supreme Court has decided to uphold a law that would see TikTok banned in the country on January 19. Now, the platform has issued an official statement, confirming that it will indeed shut down unless it gets some emergency relief from the outgoing president.

“Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19,” said the company soon after the court’s verdict.
So, what does going dark mean?
So, far, there is no official statement on what exactly TikTok means by “going dark.” There is a lot of speculation out there on how exactly the app or website will look once TikTok shutters in the US.

Read more