Last night Facebook rolled out its Messenger Kids application to 70 new countries, including here in the UAE.
The social media platform says it wants to help children deal with the challenges of distance learning and isolation due to the coronavirus lockdown.
The app – which is aimed at children under 13 – will also add a ‘supervised friending’ feature, that enables parents to approve new connections. Currently, that has gone live in the US but is being gradually rolled out to other countries.
“With schools closed and people physically distancing, parents are turning to technology more than ever to help their kids connect with friends and family,” Facebook’s global head of safety Antigone Davis said in a blog post.
“Messenger Kids is a video chat and messaging app that helps kids connect with friends and family in a fun, parent-controlled space. Today, we’re starting to roll out Messenger Kids to more countries and we’re adding new choices for parents to connect kids with friends.”
The service is aimed at children who are too young to have a Facebook account.
Essentially, the new service allows children to message their friends and family, while providing parents oversight and the ability to approve messages and new connections (kids can friend request, but parents must approve).
“With schools closed and people physically distancing, parents are turning to technology more than ever to help their kids connect with friends and family,” Facebook’s global head of safety Antigone Davis said in a blog post.
“Messenger Kids is a video chat and messaging app that helps kids connect with friends and family in a fun, parent-controlled space. Today, we’re starting to roll out Messenger Kids to more countries and we’re adding new choices for parents to connect kids with friends.”
While privacy activists argue the app might harm children who may be led astray or have data captured on them, Facebook has said that the app helps parents supervise their kids activities online.
[node:media_embed_0]
.jpg)
