The messaging app WhatsApp announced on Wednesday (11) that it will roll out, in the coming months, a new feature that will allow parents and guardians to manage their children’s accounts under 13 years old.
According to Meta, the company that controls the app, parents, mothers or guardians will be able to use the new feature to decide which contacts can send messages to the account and which groups the child or teenager can participate in.
In addition, parents will be able to review contact requests from unknown numbers and manage the account’s privacy settings.
“Parental controls and settings are managed by a parents’ PIN on the managed device. Only parents, mothers or guardians can access and modify privacy settings, allowing the experience to be customized according to family preferences,” said Meta, in a statement.
According to the company, conversation content will remain private and protected by end-to-end encryption, so neither parents nor the platform itself will have access.
According to WhatsApp, accounts managed by parents, mothers or guardians will be launched gradually and may not be available in all regions. New accounts for minors must be set up by parents or guardians aged 18 or older.
The latest version of WhatsApp for iPhone or Android will be required to use the new feature. To set up the new account, the guardian’s phone and the minor’s phone must be side by side. The setup step-by-step can be seen at this link.
Child and Adolescent Safety
Threats accompanying children’s and teenagers’ access to social networks, messaging platforms and online games have been a source of concern worldwide.
In Australia, a law prohibited social media use by under-16s. Similar measures have advanced in France and Portugal and are being discussed in other European countries.
In Brazil, a public consultation conducted by the federal government recommended stricter methods for verifying users’ ages on internet sites and apps.
ECA Digital
The country banned cell phone use in public and private elementary and high schools. The Digital Child and Adolescent Statute Law (15.211/2025) is also in the process of implementation.
The new law takes effect on March 18 and requires digital platforms to take reasonable measures to prevent risks of children and adolescents accessing illegal content or deemed inappropriate for these age groups, such as sexual exploitation and abuse, physical violence, intimidation, harassment, promotion and commercialization of gambling, predatory and deceptive advertising practices, and other crimes.
The law also sets rules for supervision by parents and guardians and requires more reliable mechanisms for verifying the age of social media users, which is currently done mainly by self-declaration.
Source: Agência Brasil