Snapchat introduces parental controls to limit teens' usage of My AI

Snapchat has rolled out new parental controls, allowing parents to limit interactions between their teenagers and the app's AI chatbot. These enhancements also encompass improved access to the Family Center, Snapchat's dedicated platform for parental controls, and streamlining the management of privacy settings.

Parents can now restrict My AI, Snapchat's AI-powered chatbot, from engaging with their teens. This move follows criticism faced by Snapchat last year when My AI engaged in inappropriate discussions with minors, prompting the need for more stringent age-gating features. According to the platform, the new restriction feature will build upon My AI's existing safeguards, including protections against inappropriate responses, temporary usage restrictions for misuse, and age-awareness measures.

Parents will be able to view: 

• Their teens’ Story settings: Teens can share their Story with their friends, or choose a smaller group of close friends and family. 
• Their teens’ contact settings: Snapchatters can only be contacted by people they have added as friends or, optionally, their phone contacts. 
• If their teen is sharing their location with friends on the Snap Map: The Snap Map allows Snapchatters to see where their friends are and what they’re up to, discover interesting places, and view content submitted by Snapchatters around the world. Snapchatters must opt-in to share their location – and only have the option to share their location with friends. 

Parental Controls for AI

Parents will also be able to restrict the ability of My AI to respond to chats from their teens. This feature builds on the safeguards already built into My AI, including protections against inappropriate or harmful responses, temporary usage restrictions if Snapchatters repeatedly misuse the service and age-awareness.

Easy Access to Family Center

 Parents can access Family Center right from their profile, or by heading to settings, located in the top-right corner of the parent’s profile.

Snapchat underscores its commitment to reflecting real-world parent-teen dynamics, where parents have insight into their teens' activities while respecting the privacy of their communications. The expansion of parental controls aligns with increased regulatory scrutiny and corresponds with the broader industry trend of implementing measures to enhance child safety online.

The adjustments also follow two months after Snap and Meta received official requests for information (RFI) from the European Commission regarding measures taken to safeguard young users on their social platforms. Similar requests were also sent to TikTok and YouTube.