(Parents might also be concerned about their children’s messages being scanned by Facebook for advertising reasons, as Facebook is an advertising company at its core, but Facebook says children’s chats will be off-limits for such purposes. It’s a restrictive system, but one that highlights how tricky it is to give children access to social media, and particularly an app that’s operated by one of the world’s largest (and most controversial) social media firms. Kids message and video call using Wi-Fi, so they don't need a phone number. Parents can also remove people from a child’s contact list at any time as well. Messenger Kids The Messaging App for K Developer info. In order to befriend another child in Messenger Kids, a parent must also be friends with that child’s parent on Facebook. That means when a child reports a conversation that they find offensive or block an individual user in the app (or vice versa), the parent is notified on Facebook. The control panel for Messenger Kids is located in the main Facebook app. Messenger Kids may be completely separate from Facebook’s other apps, but a lot of the parental management happens through Facebook. Kids can’t delete messages either, so theoretically if a child is using inappropriate language, they wouldn’t be able to erase what they’ve said. This, combined with the fact that parents have to approve each of their children’s contacts, should prevent phony accounts from appearing on the platform, a practice that’s become a huge problem for Facebook. A child can’t even create an account on his or her own - a parent must do it for them. The board also includes two representatives from MediaSmarts, which is sponsored by Facebook.But most importantly, Facebook is giving parents total control over how their children use the app and with whom they can communicate. Both groups have received funding from Facebook and each has at least one representative on Facebook’s 13-person advisory board for Messenger Kids. Several children-focused nonprofit groups endorsed Facebook’s approach, including ConnectSafely and Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI). “What they’re saying is this is great way for parents to have control, what they are getting is parental permission,” says Golin. In the past six months, new apps have launched marketed as parent helpers. But, “the weakness of COPPA is that you can do a lot of things if you get parental permission,” says Golin. In past years, tech companies avoided targeting younger users because of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection ACT (COPPA), a law that requires parental permission in order to collect data on children under 13. “On the one hand it’s diabolical and on the other hand it’s how corporations work.” “If they are weaned on Google and Facebook, you have socialized them to use your service when they become an adult,” he says. “By openly commercializing young children’s digital media use, Google has lowered the bar,” he says, pointing to what toy company Mattel described as “an eight-figure deal” that it signed with YouTube in August.Ĭhester says services such as YouTube Kids and Messenger Kids are designed to capture the attention, and affinity, of the youngest users.

“There is no way a company can really close its doors to kids anymore,” says Jeffrey Chester, executive director for the Center of Digital Democracy. FamilyLink is also used for parents who want to start an account for their kid on Google Home, which gets matched to their child’s voice. Parents create an account for their child through Google’s Family Link, a product to help parents monitor screentime. Tech companies have made a much more aggressive push into targeting younger users, a strategy that began in earnest in 2015 when Google launched YouTube Kids, which includes advertising. Since kids cannot be found in search, parents must initiate and respond to friend requests. Parents download Messenger Kids on their child’s account, after verifying their identity by logging into Facebook. The company said its 100-person team building apps for teens and kids consulted with parent groups, advocates, and childhood-development experts during the 18-month development process and the app reflects their concerns. Golin says 11-to-12-year-olds who already have a Facebook account, probably because they lied about their age, might find the animated emojis and GIFs of Messenger Kids “too babyish,” and are unlikely to convert to the new app.įacebook launched Messenger Kids for 6-to-12-year olds in the US Monday, saying it took extraordinary care and precautions.

Critics think Facebook is targeting children as young as 6 to hook them on its services.įacebook’s goal is to “push down the age” of when it’s acceptable for kids to be on social media, says Josh Golin, executive director of Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood. Facebook says it built Messenger Kids, a new version of its popular communications app with parental controls, to help safeguard pre-teens who may be using unauthorized and unsupervised social-media accounts.

Messenger kids app