The instant messaging app Snapchat has introduced a feature that the company claims would help protect teenagers from harassment and drugs.
Snapchat is working to combat the drug-dealing situation on its platform. The social media platform is implementing a new feature that will limit the friends’ suggestions that teenagers get.
Common friends
To protect children between the ages of 13 to 17, the app has introduced a feature called ‘Quick Add’ where users under 18 should have a certain number of friends common with that person to add to their friends list. But it is not clear how many mutual friends a teen should have in common.
Over the years, the company has faced severe criticisms over the exploitation in the wake of the fentanyl epidemic. Snapchat said that it is developing new measures to keep the community safe.
According to its blog post, the company is also detecting drug-related content and has increased detection rates by 390 per cent, an increase of 50 per cent since the last update. The company with its machine learning and artificial intelligence technology has detected 88 per cent of drug-related content.
The social media platform is also developing new parental control tools which provide adults more insight on who their teens are talking to on Snapchat while still respecting their privacy, the blogpost added.