Snapchat's New Parental Control Still Has Safety Concerns

Snapchat is set to roll out a new tool that will allow parents to see who their children are talking to on the app, but some still have questions about the loopholes kids might find in the new controls.

Snapchat is a photo and texting app that allows people to send pictures, videos and messages that will disappear quickly, a perk that has been taken advantage of in the past, as the app has been called out, along with several other social media platforms, for a number of illicit drug sales that have occurred.

The mother of 14-year-old Alexander Neville, who overdosed from fentanyl that he bought on Snapchat two summers ago, said that purchasing drugs on Snapchat was too easy.

"If it was still scary to get drugs, not as many kids would do them," Amy Neville told the Los Angeles Daily News last summer while protesting outside of Snapchat's headquarters in Santa Monica, California. "Right now, it's like ordering food, getting it delivered. It's as simple as that."

As part of the app's newest addition known as Family Center, a tool expected to roll out in the fall, parents will be able to monitor who their children are messaging on Snapchat while keeping the messages private.

"Family Center is designed to reflect the way that parents engage with their teens in the real world, where parents usually know who their teens are friends with and when they are hanging out—but don't eavesdrop on their private conversations," Snapchat said in an announcement on Tuesday.

In order to use the Family Center, parents will have to create their own Snapchat accounts, and their teens will need to give consent and opt-in to the Family Center feature.

But some are still concerned that kids could find ways to evade parental controls. For example, Family Center will not give parents any indication if a teen makes multiple accounts, and the usernames that people on Snapchat create could hide their identities.

One user on Twitter wrote, "Can you ask @Snap how their Family Center is supposed to keep parents 'in the know' about the people their children associate with on Snapchat if their children can change the names? Just seems like a flaw in the plan."

Snapchat has deployed measures in an attempt to keep out drug dealers in the past. In January, the app changed its Quick Add friends suggestion so that account users could not discover new users under 18 unless they have a specific number of friends in common. Before the change, Quick Add allowed users on Snapchat to connect regardless of whether they know each other in real life.

"Today, Snapchat is a central communications tool for young people, and as our community continues to grow, we know parents and caregivers want additional ways to help keep their teens safe," Snapchat said on Tuesday.

Newsweek reached out to Snap Inc. for additional comment.