WhatsApp has introduced new parental controls to provide oversight and protection for teenagers using the platform. The controls allow parents and teens to set privacy boundaries together, while parents can receive selected alerts about their teen's activity. This move comes as young people face growing risks online, with a recent Microsoft report finding that 77% of South African teens had sought support after experiencing an online risk.
The new controls enable parents to help set their teen's privacy settings, including who can see their profile picture and who can add them to groups. If a teen wants to relax certain settings, parental approval through a PIN is required. Parents can also receive notifications when their teen joins or leaves a group, or when a group grows significantly. These controls extend to Meta AI, Channels, and Status.
WhatsApp stressed that private messages and calls remain protected by end-to-end encryption. The company said the controls are designed to support open conversations about WhatsApp between parents and teens, not to monitor their chats. The controls are optional and can be adjusted or switched off. WhatsApp aims to balance parental oversight with teenagers' privacy.
The introduction of these controls is part of a broader effort by Meta to enhance teen safety across its platforms. Meta has introduced stricter content settings for Teen Accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, designed to limit teenagers' exposure to inappropriate material. These settings are being expanded globally.
Meta also offers parental supervision tools, including insights into the topics teens engage with on Instagram. According to Meta, parents in the European Union, Brazil, and India can receive alerts when Instagram detects repeated searches for terms associated with suicide or self-harm. Meta also has measures to flag potentially concerning conversations between teens and its AI.
In the United States, Meta has agreed to additional Facebook and Instagram measures, including a default two-hour daily usage limit, an overnight block from midnight to 6am, muted notifications during school hours, and prompts after 15 minutes of continuous use. Parents will receive additional supervision controls and information about their teen's use.
Other social media platforms, such as TikTok, also have measures in place to protect younger users. TikTok uses stricter privacy settings for younger users and limits access to certain features according to age. Direct messaging, for example, is restricted to users aged 16 and older. TikTok also offers Family Pairing, allowing parents to manage aspects of their teenager's experience.
Key points
- WhatsApp's new parental controls provide oversight without giving parents access to private conversations.
