Messenger Kids

A redesigned version of the main application, Facebook Messenger Kids is a social media tool that allows parents to control their children's early exposure to Facebook. The creation of this application is part of an effort to broaden its range of services to the target group of children "aged 9 to 11".

Messenger Kids, an application for younger children

Messenger Kids is a messaging application from Facebook that offers individual and group chats, as well as video calling. This Messenger Kids version of Messenger has several special features. Indeed, the account can only be created by parents. In addition, they must confirm each individual contact with the child and can prevent strangers from initiating contact. If two children want to chat with each other, the parents of both must be friends on Facebook. Adults who want to make contact must themselves be members of the children's contact circle. If a child blocks or notifies a particular access, his or her parents will automatically receive a notification so that they can take action if necessary. Of course, this means that parents, who wish to allow their children to use them, must first have their own Facebook account.

With the security mechanisms mentioned above, the US giant wants to ensure that children are protected against several scourges, including paedophilia. The protection mechanisms also include recognition filters for specific content such as naked images or hateful comments. Messenger Kids is initially available for iOS only and works as an extension of a parent's Facebook account.