Two days after settling a lawsuit accusing Snapchat of causing social media addiction and mental health issues, Snap announced that it’s introducing new parental controls. Parents and guardians can now use Snapchat’s “Family Center” tool to see how much time their teen is spending on the platform, along with additional details about the new friends they add.
With these new features, Snap is likely looking to appease regulators and parents over concerns about safety and screen time on its platform.
Parents can now see the average amount of time their teen spent on Snapchat each day over the previous week. They can see how this time breaks down across different parts of the app, including chatting, snapping, creating with the camera, using Snap Map, or watching content on Spotlight and Stories.
While Family Center already allowed parents to see a full list of their teen’s friends on Snapchat, they can now see how their teen likely knows a new user that they’ve added as a friend. For example, parents will be able to see whether they have mutual friends, are saved as a contact, or belong to shared communities.