New Delhi, October 2022.

Snap launched Family Centre in India, a new in-app tool that provides parents with more insight into who their teens are friends with on Snapchat, and who they have been communicating with, without revealing any of the substance of those conversations.

Family Centre mirrors how 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. The goal is to help empower parents and teens to have conversations about online safety in a way that still protects teenagers' autonomy and privacy.

Parents can also easily and confidentially report any suspicious accounts directly on Family Centre. Our Trust and Safety team works around the clock to help keep Snapchatters safe.

“Snapchat is a central communications tool for so many young Indians, and as our community continues to grow, we know parents and caregivers want additional ways to help keep their teens safe. Our new in-app Family Centre tool will help parents get more insight into who their teens are friends with on Snapchat, to help foster  positive conversations about online safety while respecting the privacy and autonomy of teens. " adds Uthara Ganesh, Public Policy Head , India, Snap Inc.

Supporting Snap’s Family Centre launch in India is FXB India Suraksha and CyberPeace Foundation.

FXB India Suraksha (FXBIS) is an Indian non-governmental, non-profit organisation providing development assistance to marginalised children, women, and communities in rural and urban India.

Satya Prakash, COO, FXB India Suraksha,"It is encouraging to see Snap addressing the challenge parents face today while talking to teens about cyber safety. Tools that allow parents visibility of their teen's online interactions, while also maintaining teen privacy, is a positive step forward in helping young people stay safe online. Features like Family Centre can promote conversations within families on this important topic."

CyberPeace Foundation(CPF) is an award-winning nonpartisan civil society organisation, think tank of CyberSecurity and policy experts with the vision of pioneering CyberPeace Initiatives to build collective resilience against Cybercrimes and global threats of cyber warfare.

Major Vineet Kumar, Founder and Global President, CyberPeace Foundation said, “We at CyberPeace are very pleased to see the steps Snap is taking to promote CyberSafety of young people using their app. We know online safety is one of the big challenges facing young people globally at the moment so the more the industry can do to facilitate safety on the App and supportive conversations between young people and their families the better it is."

In addition to Family Center, we have existing protections to help keep young people safe. For example, on Snapchat:

●        By default, teens have to be mutual friends before they can start communicating with each other.

●        Friend lists are private, and we don’t allow teens to have public profiles.

●        And we have protections in place to make it harder for strangers to find teens. For example, teens only show up as a "suggested friend" or in search results in limited instances, like if they have mutual friends in common.

Over the coming months we plan on adding additional features to Family Center, including new content controls for parents and the ability for teens to notify their parents when they report an account or a piece of content to us. While we closely moderate and curate both our content and entertainment platforms, and don’t allow unvetted content to reach a large audience on Snapchat, we know each family has different views on what content is appropriate for their teens and want to give them the option to make those personal decisions.

We look forward to continuing to work closely with families and online safety experts to keep improving Family Center over time. To learn more about Family Centre and about how we’re working to keep teens safe on Snapchat, check our Parent’s Guide to Snapchat.

At Snap, the health and well-being of our community is our top priority. As young people around the world struggle with their mental health, we have both a responsibility and a meaningful opportunity to support Snapchatters by maintaining a safe space for them to communicate with their friends and giving them access to vital resources.

From the start, Snapchat was designed to help real friends communicate and have fun together without the pressure of likes and comments – avoiding the most toxic features of traditional social media that encourage social comparison and can be hard on mental health. As a result, Snapchat is a place where young people go to communicate with their friends authentically and honestly. In that position, we believe we can play a powerful role in preventing bullying, educating our community on how they can respond to bullying, and offering resources they can use when they or a friend are in need.

This World Mental Health Day and Bullying Prevention Month, Snap is launching a suite of new bullying prevention and mental health campaigns across the globe. In India the team is collaborating with Sangath- a non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation. Through these partnerships, Snap aims to encourage Snapchatters to be kind to one another and provide them with local tools they can lean on if dealing with bullying or mental health struggles.