Meta Reveals New Parental Supervision Tool For Messenger

The new features come as Meta and other social platforms face heightened pressure from lawmakers over the impact that their platforms have on younger users.

Meta is adding new safeguards and monitoring tools for teens across its social platforms.

Messenger, Meta’s instant-messaging app, is adding parental supervision tools for the first time that are similar to those that exist on Instagram already.

Parents and guardians can see how much time their teens spend on the chart tool, view and receive updates on their contacts list, and get notified if their teen reports someone.

Another new feature is the ability for parents and teens to have discussions directly through notifications if their accounts are synced.

The company is also taking a stricter approach to the content it recommends to teens and will actively nudge them toward different topics, if they’ve been dwelling on any type of content for too long.

The new features come as Meta and other social platforms face heightened pressure from lawmakers over the impact that their platforms have on younger users, who can be just 13 when they sign up for Meta’s apps.