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Facebook Launches Messenger Kids across Sub-Saharan Africa

Facebook is rolling out Messenger Kids, a video chat and messaging app that helps children connect with friends and family in a fun, parent-controlled space. Available to download from the Apple App and Google Play Stores, Messenger Kids has been designed for children between the ages of 6 to 12 years, with the app including two new features aimed at helping kids connect with their friends and family. 

Helping to shape the Messenger Kids app, Facebook has worked closely with Youth Advisors over the years, made up of experts in online safety, child development and media. Ahead of its launch, Facebook also consulted with child safety advocates and educators across Africa to ensure that its providing a service that balances parental control with features that help kids learn how to connect responsibly online.

Messenger Kids is made for Kids but controlled by parents, the app is full of features for kids to connect with the people they love. Once their account is set up by a parent, kids can start a one-on-one or group video chat. The home screen shows them at a glance who they are connected to, and when those contacts are online. Some fun features available in the app, include:

  • Playful masks, emojis and sound effects bring conversations to life.
  • In addition to video chat, kids can send photos, videos or text messages to their parent-approved friends and adult relatives, who will receive the messages via their regular Messenger app.
  • A library of kid-appropriate and specially chosen GIFs, frames, stickers, masks and drawing tools to let them decorate content and express their personalities.

Commenting on the launch, Kojo Boakye, Facebook Public Policy Director, Africa said: “We know that parents are turning to technology more than ever to help their kids connect with friends and family online. With privacy, security and parental control at the heart of the app, Messenger Kids provides a safe, fun space, controlled by parents to do exactly that.”

Safety expert Evelyn Kasina, Family IT Consultant, Eveminet, added:“It is our responsibility to ensure online safety for our children. The greatest sign of success is when our children display responsible independence during their online interaction. The launch of Facebook Messenger Kids is an amazing stride toward child online safety because our young children will enjoy and participate on social media on child developed platforms that have safety parameters to keep them safe.” 

Through the Parent Dashboard, parents can control and monitor their child’s activity enabling them to:

  • Monitor recent contacts, chat history, and reported and blocked contacts: including who your child is chatting with, whether they are video chatting or sending messages and how frequently those conversations happened over the past 30 days. You’ll also see a list of the contacts your child has blocked and/or unblocked, if they have reported any messages as well as any contacts they’ve reported and the reason for their action. Parents will continue to be notified via Messenger if their child blocks or reports someone.
  • See a log of images and videos in chats: See the most recent photos and videos your child has sent and received in their inbox. If you believe an image or video is not appropriate for your child, you can remove it from your child’s message thread and report it. 
  • Enable Supervised Friending: This feature will enable parents to choose to allow their kids to also accept, reject, add or remove contacts, while maintaining the ability to override any new contact approvals from the Parent Dashboard. When a kid takes a friending action, parents will be notified through Messenger and can override any new connections made by going to the Parent Dashboard, where they will also be able to see a log of recent activities.
  • Remote Device Logout: See all devices where your child is logged in to Messenger Kids and log out of the app on any device through the Parent Dashboard
  • Download your child’s information: Request a copy of your child’s Messenger Kids information, similar to how you can download your own information within the Facebook app. The download will include a list of your child’s contacts as well as the messages, images and videos they have sent and received. Your child will be notified through the Messenger Kids app when you request this information.

More Information on Messenger Kids

  • There are no ads in Messenger Kids and your child’s information isn’t used for ads. 
  • It is free to download and there are no in-app purchases. 
  • Messenger Kids is also designed to be compliant with the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA). 
  • Facebook continues to work with parents, safety and security experts to improve Messenger Kids and have also announced new ways to help parents connect kids with their friends. 
  • For more specific information about the app, visit messengerkids.com.

For the latest on how to use Messenger Kids, visit our Help Center

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South African Police Service & Facebook Launch Amber Alerts – A New Tool To Help Find Missing Children

Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday 30 January 2020: The South African Police Service (SAPS) and Facebook today announced a new partnership to help find missing children by sending Amber Alerts to the Facebook community in South Africa.

The first of its kind in Africa, the Amber Alert system will enable the South African Police Service to seek assistance from the public when it is suspected that a child has been abducted and there is reason to believe there is an immediate and serious risk to the health or welfare of the child. Through Facebook’s Newsfeed, the Amber Alert enables people to instantly share important information about the missing child and suspected abductor, such as a photo, hair colour and clothing with their friends, family and Facebook groups.

Commenting on the launch, Emily Vacher, Facebook’s Director of Trust and Safety, said: “Already available across 23 countries globally, we are proud to partner with the South African Police Service to make Amber Alerts available in South Africa – the first African country to join this programme. When a child is missing, the most valuable thing one can do is share information as quickly as possible. By working with law enforcement in helping to share the right information with the right people, we hope that missing children will be safely reunited with their families faster.”

National Commissioner of the South African Police, General Khehla Sitole said: “Today we are implementing a strong partnership which will assist with SAPS in improving our response time, to enable us to find and safely recover vulnerable missing, abducted or kidnapped children through one of the world’s most popular social media platforms, Facebook.”

How Amber Alerts work

The decision to declare an Amber Alert is made by the South African Police Service when investigating suspected abduction case. Once the South African Police Service has been notified about an abducted child, they must first determine if the case meets their Amber Alert criteria, which includes:

  • The abduction is of a child age 17 or younger;
  • There is a reasonable belief that the child has been abducted
  • The South African Police Service believes the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily harm.
  • There is enough descriptive information about the victim and suspected abduction for law enforcement to issue an Amber Alert to assist in recovering the child

A senior member of the South African Police Service will assess whether these criteria have been met before authorising the Amber Alert. The police service will then notify Facebook’s Global Security Operations Centre, which operates 24/7, that a verified Amber Alert is active. Facebook will then quickly send the alert to the News Feeds of people located in targeted search areas in South Africa.

Emilar Gandhi, Facebook Head of Public Policy, SADC region added: “This is an important step forward in our continued investment and commitment not only to South Africa but across the African continent. The goal of Facebook’s Amber Alerts programme is to instantly galvanize the entire community in the search and recovery of a missing child. Using Facebook enhances the current distribution system by providing all of this information in one place and giving people the ability to share it, wherever they are.”

Amber Alerts will be active as of 30 January 2020.

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