Snapchat Is Coming Up With A New Safety Feature; Limits Friends Suggestions For Teens

Following the requests for enhanced safety features on the app, the popular social networking app Snapchat is modifying its buddy suggestion feature. Based on Engadget reports, the firm is making it more difficult for adult strangers to locate kids on its app by limiting friend recommendations in its “Quick Add” feature.

According to Snapchat, accounts of 13 to 17-year-olds would no longer appear in Quick Add unless they have “a particular amount of accounts in common.” While the move will not prevent adults and kids from communicating, it may make it more difficult for outsiders to locate teens they are unfamiliar with.

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It’s unclear how many mutual connections a Snapchat user will need to have in common with an adolescent in order for them to appear on their Quick Add list, but the company claims it will help users guarantee they know each other in real life. The platform also promises to implement new parental control features, which it teased last year, that will provide parents more insight into who their teenagers are talking to while still allowing teens to maintain their privacy.

“An NBC report exposed kids utilizing the app to acquire drugs for the first time.”

The adjustments come as Snapchat strives to prevent users from using the platform to sell drugs in the midst of a fentanyl epidemic that is harming both adults and children.

Snapchat claims to be getting better at detecting drug-related content, with a 50 percent increase in proactive detection since October last year. In addition to the changes of the Quick Add feature, Snapchat claims it consults with experts on regularly to keep its list of slang and drug-related terms restricted on the app up to date.

“This is a continuous, continuing endeavor, that not only prevents Snapchat Users from seeing Search results for those terms,” the company noted.

As a part of Snapchat’s Heads Up function, users who search for these terms are presented as “professional educational resources.”