Snapchat doubles down on Family Center, adds new controls for parents
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Introduced last year, Snapchat’s Family Center was one of Snap’s most important steps toward allowing parents to control the accounts of their offspring. Today, the social app announced more improvements are coming to Family Center, which includes additional controls for parents who aren’t content with what they received in 2022.
Suggestively dubbed “Content Controls,” the latest feature for Family Center allows parents to limit the type of content their children can watch on Snapchat. Surprisingly, this wasn’t available when Family Center was launched last year, but at least the feature if finally here.
Particularly, the newly added controls enable parents to filter out Stories from publishers and creators that they feel are not a good match for their kids. Either they’re creating sensitive, suggestive content or their views are in contradiction with what parents believe about a particular topic, it’s now possible to filter out Stories based on who creates them.
Snap’s policies are designed to prevent “unvetted content from going viral,” so it’s harder for certain content you can find on TikTok or other social networks to share widely on Snapchat. Not to mention that Snap moderates public-facing content from creators and Snapchatters before it’s eligible to get reach on Stories or Spotlight.
Of course, to take advantage of the latest feature for Family Center, you’ll need to have an account set up with your child. The Family Center account is free and can be created in just a few minutes.
In related news, Snap revealed plans to add even more new features to the Family Center. Some of these upcoming features will be built around My AI, Snap’s experimental chatbot, and are meant to provide parents with more visibility and control around their children’s usage of My AI. Other new features might be in the pipeline too, but these are the only ones we know of so far.
Questions & Answers
Q.What specifically do the new 'Content Controls' allow parents to do?
What specifically do the new 'Content Controls' allow parents to do?
The new controls let parents filter out Stories from specific publishers and creators. This applies to content considered sensitive, suggestive, or contradictory to parental views on a topic.
Q.Was the ability to limit content types available when Family Center first launched?
Was the ability to limit content types available when Family Center first launched?
No, the ability to limit the type of content children can watch was not available when Family Center was introduced last year. This feature has been added recently.
Q.How does Snapchat manage public-facing content before it gains wider reach?
How does Snapchat manage public-facing content before it gains wider reach?
Snapchat moderates public-facing content from creators and Snapchatters before it becomes eligible to reach a wider audience on Stories or Spotlight. This is intended to prevent unvetted content from going viral.
Q.What future Family Center features are planned beyond content controls?
What future Family Center features are planned beyond content controls?
Upcoming features for Family Center will focus on My AI, Snap's experimental chatbot. These will give parents more visibility and control over their children's use of My AI.