Cyber Safety - SnapChat

SnapChat

Snapchat is a messaging app that lets you send images, videos or instant text messages to friends. These images, videos and messages are only available for a short period of time once they are opened. You can also use filters on your images and upload photo and video stories that last for 24 hours before they disappear. Content posted to Snapchat is not as temporary as it may appear, as users can save chats or screenshot them without the sender knowing. It is important for parents to frequently remind their children that there is no such thing as truly ‘temporary’ or ‘disappearing’ content on the Internet. Experts recommend users of the SnapChat app are aged 14 and over.

Snap Inc. the parent company, describes itself as a ‘camera company’.

Snapchat’s content is unmoderated and the platform has many features, including Snap Map, Stories, My Eyes Only, Discover, filters and lenses, and Spotlight, some of which may pose a significant risk to young people’s online safety and security. Adult content can also be accessed in the app. Accordingly, online safety experts have given Snapchat a higher age rating than recommended by the App store.

Snapchat released its first built-in parental control tool,  Family Center, providing parents with some limited visibility over how their teens use the platform. The feature is intended to reflect real-world engagement between parents and their teens by allowing parents to see which friends their teens have interacted with over the past seven days, but not what they were saying. Parents can also view their teen’s friends list, and are able to see when new friends have been added. Accounts they may be concerned about can be reported to the Snapchat Trust and Safety team. To enable the feature, parents need to create their own Snapchat account, and then connect to their teen’s account via Family Center by mutual agreement.

For more information about SnapChat please visit our St Anthony’s Online Safety Hub.