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Facebook Messenger Kids: Company launches new app specifically targeted at kids

Facebook's younger users aren't allowed on the proper website by law

Monday 04 December 2017 14:58 GMT

A Facebook like button is pictured at the Facebook's France headquarters in Paris, France, November 27, 2017 (REUTERS/Benoit Tessier)

Facebook is launching an instant messenger aimed specifically at children.

The new app is an attempt by the company to sign more kids up to the app. They're not generally allowed to use the proper version of the site – but it hopes that it can encourage young people to sign up by launching a new version of Messenger meant specifically for them.

The new, child-friendly app seems to be one of many attempts by Facebook to continue growing. In many places, it has managed to sign up almost everyone that it can, and so it has launched new ways of growing like giving internet to developing countries and encouraging children to join.

How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you

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1/9How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you

How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you

Lock your profile down

If you haven’t done this already, do it now. In Settings, hit the Privacy tab. From here, you can control who gets to see your future posts and friends list. Choose from Public, Friends, Only Me and Custom in the dropdown menu.

How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you

Limit old posts

Annoyingly, changing this has no effect on who’s able to see your past Facebook posts. Instead, on the Privacy page, you have to click on Limit Past Posts, then select Limit Old Posts and finally hit Confirm on the pop-up.

How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you

Make yourself harder to find

You can stop completely random people from adding you by selecting Friends of Friends from the dropdown menu in the Who can send you friend requests? section of the Privacy page. It’s also worth limiting who can find your Facebook profile with your number and email address. At the bottom of the page is the option to prevent search engines outside of Facebook from linking to your profile.

How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you

Control access to your Timeline

You can limit who gets to post things on your Timeline and who gets to see posts on your Timeline too. In Settings, go to Timeline and Tagging and edit the sections you want to lock down.

How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you

Block people

When you block someone, they won’t be able to see things you post on your Timeline, tag you, invite you to events or groups, start conversations with you or add you as a friend. To do it, go to Settings and Blocking. Annoyingly, you have to block people on Messenger separately. You can also add friends to your Restricted list here, which means they’ll still be friends with you but will only be able to see your public posts and things you share on a mutual friend's Timeline.

How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you

Review tags

One of Facebook’s handiest privacy features is the ability to review posts you’re tagged in before they appear on your Timeline. They’ll still be visible on the News Feed while they’re fresh, but won’t be tied to your profile forever. In Timeline and Tagging, enable Timeline review controls.

How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you

Clean up your apps

You can view a list of all of the apps you’ve connected to your Facebook account by going to Settings and Apps. The list might be longer than you expected it to be. It’s worth tidying this up to ensure things you no longer use lose access to your personal information. If you don’t want to log into websites and apps with your facebook account, scroll down and turn Platform off.

How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you

Change your ad preferences

You can view a list of everything Facebook thinks you’re into and tinker with your ad preferences by going to Settings and Adverts. A lot more information is displayed on the desktop site than the app, so we’d recommend doing this on a computer.

How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you

Download your data

Facebook lets you download all of the data it has on you, including the posts you’ve shared, your messages and photos, ads you’ve clicked on and even the IP addresses that are logged when you log in or out of the site. It’s a hell of a lot of information, which you should download to ensure you never over-share on the social network again.

The app allows children to share pictures, texts and videos to each other, and will allow parents some control over what messages are sent. It will be linked to an adults' Facebook account, and that person will be able to control what the children are allowed to do.

Laws prohibit under-13s from using the proper version of the Facebook website, though of course that doesn't keep all children from using it. People who are over 13 will be allowed to use the app, Facebook suggested.

"Messenger Kids is full of features for kids to connect with the people they love. Once their account is set up by a parent, kids can start a one-on-one or group video chat with parent-approved contacts," a Facebook announcement read. "The home screen shows them at a glance who they are approved to talk to, and when those contacts are online."

Facebook made clear that it won't be showing any ads in the app, and that the information gathered by Facebook while using it won't be used to inform ads that are shown elsewhere.

The app is for now only available on the iOS App Store in the US for the time being. Like Facebook, it is completely free.

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