New York (EFE).- The company Meta (parent company of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp) announced on Tuesday new parental supervision tools in its Messenger application for the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.
These new tools do not allow parents and guardians of minors to read their children’s messages, but they do allow them to see how teenagers use Messenger.
Specifically, parents will be able to see how much time the teen spends on the app, the child’s contact list, and the child’s privacy and security settings; receive a notification if the teen reports someone (as long as the teen chooses to share that information) and see who can send messages or view your teen’s Messenger stories.
“Over the next year, we will add more features to Messenger parental supervision so parents can help their teens better manage their time and interactions,” the company notes in a statement.
Target focuses on the activity of minors
The tech giant led by Mark Zuckerberg said that on Instagram, which has more than 1.3 billion users, parents can expect similar updates soon.
“We already display a safety notice when adults who have engaged in potentially suspicious behavior send messages to teens, and we restrict people 19 and older from sending private messages to teens who don’t follow them. We are now testing additional features to limit the way people can interact and send messages to other people who do not follow them, “explains the statement.
Regarding the time that minors spend on the network, Meta indicates that “soon” adolescents will see a notification when they have spent 20 minutes on Facebook, “which will tell them to take a break and set daily time limits.”
“We are also exploring a new option on Instagram that suggests that teens close the app if they are watching Reels (videos) at night,” the statement stressed.
Avoid pedophilic activity
Earlier this month, a joint investigation by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and researchers from Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that the Instagram algorithm helps connect and promote a vast network of accounts dedicated to pedophilia. and purchase of sexual content of minors.
Instagram, a very popular social network among teenagers, not only hosts these activities, but, according to the study, its algorithms promote them.