It is impossible to remove or prohibit children’s access to technology and it is for this reason that Facebook has developed an App just for them but that can be controlled with parental supervision.
Children have learned to communicate primarily through cell phones, tablets and laptops, and especially through the applications of social networks. This, of course, carries with it the likelihood that children could be exposed to inappropriate things online that parents may not have first been able to review or approve of, as recently happened in Youtube.
This Monday, Facebook announced a new application called Messenger Kids to help parents in the task of controlling their children’s access to digital platforms. Messenger Kids is, according to the company, an app for chat and video calls created to be fun for children to use while including controls for parents.
The app will offer filters, masks and stickers that children can use in their video calls and photos. But this content and the message and video chat features can only be used with people approved by parents. For example, parents could only allow communication with their son’s school friends and their relatives, such as grandparents, cousins and uncles. Children will not be able to connect with people who are not pre-approved by parents, and even children can block people they want, says Facebook.
Currently, the policy Facebook does not allow children under 13 to open an account in the social network and, therefore, use the Messenger app that is linked to the profile of Facebook users, which already has more than 2,000 million monthly users.
However, with Messenger Kids — the company’s first app for children — Facebook is seeking to carve out a niche for itself in the content and app marketplace for a group that represents future users of the flagship platform.
With the control it gives parents, Facebook wants to avoid the inappropriate content issues that have recently surfaced in places like Youtube. The children’s version of the video streaming platform, YouTube Kids, failed to filter some videos that showed disturbing images to children. Therefore, its parent Google was forced to remove 150,000 videos after reporting the loss of advertisers.
In addition to being able to control the children’s contacts, the mother, father and children will also be able to report inappropriate content. The Messenger Kids app will notify parents when their son or daughter flags content as inappropriate and if their son or daughter has shared something inappropriate with others. Facebook said its platform will also be able to detect abusive and inappropriate content, including images and videos, that violate its community standards and remove them from the account.
According to Facebook, the company worked with a group of child development experts to create Messenger Kids. The company added that it tested the app with children primarily between the ages of 6 and 11, which could indicate that the company thinks the app is appropriate for children at least 6 years old.
The company added that when children turn 13, it will not automatically transfer them to the Messenger app, an app that has more than 1.2 billion monthly users. However, Facebook will collect Messenger Kids usage data to improve the app and organize the information it displays on the interface. However, the company said it will not use this data to target advertising campaigns to parents or other family members. In fact, Facebook says that it will not place advertising or purchases within the app.
Messenger Kids will be free and will arrive first to iOS, only in the United States in English. Facebook says they could «consider» add the Spanish language in the future. Also, he said that there will soon be a version for Android and Kindle.
Taken from CNET