Snapchat will ban apps that facilitate anonymous messaging from its platform, to reduce the risks of abuse through this service and to strengthen the safety of teenage users.
The company has announced new measures, which have been integrated into its new section of Terms of Service and Conditions of use of the application, to “create safer and more positive online experiences”, according to a statement.
These new regulations derive from a case of ‘cyberbullying’ registered in 2020, which resulted in the suicide of a teenager from Oregon (United States), who had received anonymous messages through two applications integrated through its platform for developers – Snap Kit Developer-: Yolo and LMK.
Shortly after learning of the lawsuit filed by the 16-year-old mother of the deceased, Snapchat suspended the services of these applications on its platform and opened an investigation process.
The result of this has led to the implementation of different changes in its platform for developers, which houses a set of tools to bring some of the most popular features of Snapchat to third-party applications and services.
“From the beginning, we set security and privacy standards for all participating apps and require developers to go through a review and approval process when they first apply to work with us,” the statement reads.
Likewise, the company has insisted that it requires its developers to have the appropriate security measures in place to protect its customers and take action against any report of abuse by any user.
With this, it has exposed two of these new measures, focused on promoting the transparency of its service and reinforcing the protection of users, especially the youngest.
On the one hand, it has announced that it will prohibit applications that offer anonymous messaging functions, such as Yolo and LMK, from being able to integrate with Snapchat. “Anonymous applications present risks of abuse that are impossible to mitigate acceptably”, he has indicated in this writing, where he has confirmed that those applications “that facilitate communication between users without registered and visible identities” will not be allowed.
It has also announced that applications to find contacts and friends will not be allowed on the platform unless they are age-restricted and restricted to Snapchat users over 18 years of age. With this change, it seeks to protect younger users more and encourage the correct use of the application, which is none other than carrying out conversations between close friends or people who already know each other.
“We want to foster an ecosystem that helps apps protect the security, privacy, and well-being of users while fostering product innovation for developers and helping them grow their businesses,” the platform concluded.