Snapchat defends its teen safety protection measures
Snapchat has defended its safety protection procedures, despite experts naming it as one of the most "problematic" apps for children.
Cyber safety expert Susan McLean tells 9honey Parenting the messaging app is taking "some tiny steps" in the right direction but is not doing enough as a whole to ensure children are safe online.
Primarily, when it comes to sextortion – one of the fastest-growing crimes affecting teenagers in Australia.
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"Nearly every case of sextortion I have been involved with has occurred on Snapchat," says McLean.
"So I think there clearly is a significant issue with offenders using the Snapchat platform for sextortion and other things as well, so they need to do more in my mind to make sure that when Australian children over the age of 13 use the platform, they can be as safe as possible."
It follows Snapchat's research last year, which showed that in 2023, parents found it more difficult to keep up with their teens' online activities more than ever.
It also found parents' trust in their teens to act responsibly online faltered.
Snapchat's global head of platform safety Jacquline Beauchere tells 9honey Parenting the platform is taking both proactive and reactive measures to ensure children are safe when using it.
"For these types of issues, the most egregious and serious harms that could take place on a platform, we have zero-tolerance policies. One strike and you're out."
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Snapchat is popular for sextortion, says cyber safety expert Susan McLean. Getty
She says they're also "using various innovative approaches to proactively detect this kind of behaviour and these type of accounts beforehand".
"We are looking for certain patterns, we're looking for certain techniques that these extorters are using so that we can identify those accounts and if an account is exhibiting those types of characteristics, then we will shut it down."
Snapchat now offers in-app warnings that pop up when teenagers are approached by people they don't know.
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There are a number of new features that warn teens of potential danger, Getty Images/iStockphoto
Users will also be alerted if they're being approached by "someone who has been blocked or reported by others, or is from a region where the teen's network isn't typically located".
The app now also offers enhanced friending protections, simplified location-sharing and blocking improvements as well as a Family Centre of parents to have "visibility into who they're connecting with and communicating with" on their children's accounts.
But McLean is concerned it doesn't go far enough.
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"It's one step forward, two steps back". Getty Images/iStockphoto
"Snapchat has improved its protections of recent times and the parental controls are fine, but then the parent has to have a Snapchat account and most parents don't want to be on Snapchat.
"So it's one step forward, two steps back, but we all need to do better. Parents need to do better, too."
Beauchere says each year for the past three years they've spoken to parents of teenagers between the ages of 13 and 19 about the risks that they're facing online.
"That gives us the foundational evidence base that we can use to inform our products, return risks, inform our features and functionality. But it's important to know that information is not just about Snapchat solely, it's about all platforms, all services, all devices."
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Open communication between parents and kids is essential. Getty Images/iStockphoto
She says it's up to parents to make sure their teenagers using the app know to report when things go wrong, so that they can help.
"We rely on our community to come to us with reports, with their concerns, so that we can do something about it."
"We can't do anything about it unless we know something is happening, particularly if it's going on in a sensitive place of private chat.
"So we offer reporting mechanisms in the app, and we also offer a variety of external reporting mechanisms, like on our website so a parent, a coach, a counsellor or some other trusted adult in a young person's life who knows that they're going through something could report that to us as well."
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Teens also need to be comfortable reporting the issues. Getty Images/iStockphoto
She says currently, the problem lies with teenagers unease over reporting.
"Unfortunately, there is a little bit of hesitancy among young people to report. and we have to turn the tide on that narrative."
We have to show them that there is benefit in reporting – it is not tattle tailing, it is not snitching, it is actually a community service that they are performing so that nothing bad can happen to them and nothing bad can happen to their friends and their peers and their classmates."
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