When Facebook came out with Messenger Kids, the general reaction to the development was rather mixed. A big part of the reason why this is the case has to do with the fact that Facebook has often tried to acquire data from children using decidedly underhanded methods such as when an app associated with Facebook tried to pay children into downloading it so that it could glean data from their phones and get a deeper look into their browsing habits as well as their overall smartphone usage.
However there is another possibly bigger issue associated with Messenger Kids, and this has to do with security. The thing about this app is that parents have some control over who their child can and can’t talk to, and a big part of this has to do with protecting kids from the countless malicious people that they might come across on the internet, some of whom might want to harm kids. Parents generally have to approve a contact before kids are allowed to talk to that person through the app. This is a good feature but the problem is that if your child joins a group chat then they might end up talking to people that parents have not approved of.
In order to prevent such issues from occurring Facebook has started giving parents the ability to look into their child’s chat history along with log of photos via a new dashboard, thereby preventing anyone that they feel might be a threat from contacting their child. If your child blocks someone on the app you will still be able to see the conversation that they had. The company has also introduced a feature aka "Remote Device Logout" which allows parents to check all devices where their child is logged in to Messenger Kids.
Protecting our children is very important indeed, and a big part of this has to do with the kind of control parents can have over the internet usage that their young children are allowed to have.
Read next: Game streamers can now ban criticism in their chat, courtesy Facebook's new deal
However there is another possibly bigger issue associated with Messenger Kids, and this has to do with security. The thing about this app is that parents have some control over who their child can and can’t talk to, and a big part of this has to do with protecting kids from the countless malicious people that they might come across on the internet, some of whom might want to harm kids. Parents generally have to approve a contact before kids are allowed to talk to that person through the app. This is a good feature but the problem is that if your child joins a group chat then they might end up talking to people that parents have not approved of.
In order to prevent such issues from occurring Facebook has started giving parents the ability to look into their child’s chat history along with log of photos via a new dashboard, thereby preventing anyone that they feel might be a threat from contacting their child. If your child blocks someone on the app you will still be able to see the conversation that they had. The company has also introduced a feature aka "Remote Device Logout" which allows parents to check all devices where their child is logged in to Messenger Kids.
Protecting our children is very important indeed, and a big part of this has to do with the kind of control parents can have over the internet usage that their young children are allowed to have.
Read next: Game streamers can now ban criticism in their chat, courtesy Facebook's new deal
