Snapchat Launches New Feature To Protect Teens On Social Media

Snapchat's new feature (photo:Snapchat)

JAKARTA - Snapchat is rolling out new features in the coming weeks, to increase the protection of children aged 13-17 from potential online risks on its platform.

The company says these features aim to protect teens from being contacted by people they don't know, provide their age-appropriate content, and also remove inappropriate content.

Safer Contacts

To protect children from unknown people, Snapchat requires teens to add the person as Snapchat's friend or phonebook contact before they can start communicating.

For that, Snap Inc. brings a new feature that will send a pop-up warning to teens if someone tries to add them as friends, when they don't share mutual contact or that person isn't in their contacts.

Companies also require children aged 13-17 years to have some friends who are the same as other users before they can appear in search results or as friends' advice.

New Reprimand System

Snapchat will also launch a new warning system and implement additional content moderation to help remove marketing and promoting unageable content.

Snapchat will soon remove the inappropriate content they detect proactively or as reported to the company.

Education About General Online Risks

Lastly, Snapchat is also releasing content in new apps that are expected to help teens explain online risks and share important resources for users, such as hotlines that can be reached for help.

This content will be displayed on the Snapchat Stories platform, and displayed to users based on the relevant Search terms or keywords.