How it works
Users connect with friends, join interest-based ‘groups’, or follow ‘pages’. Private messages via the Messenger app use end-to-end encryption (only the sender and receiver can see the message). Features include 24-hour stories, a personalised ‘feed’, videos (Reels), livestreaming, gaming, shopping, and dating. Adults can pay to remove adverts and prevent data use for advertising.
Meta’s digital assistant is called Meta AI. On mobile devices, Facebook users can use Messenger to text chat with Meta AI, ask for information or create content to share (and for 18+ accounts, this data and public posts are retained by Meta, to improve Meta AI, unless they fill out an objection form).
Facebook requires user profiles to be a person’s name. 13 – 17 year olds can use Teen Accounts, which claims to provides additional protections for users, including:
• Only Friends can see their posts, stories, reels, friends list and Pages they follow
• They are limited in their ability to follow, search for, interact with or see content from profiles or Pages that primarily share content inappropriate for teens (when in the 13+ setting)
• Only Facebook friends or other connections (e.g. people that they have messaged with before) can chat with them
• Their ability to message or interact with profiles and Pages that primarily share content inappropriate for teens is limited
• They will typically see content, such as posts, reels and stories, that’s similar to what they would see in content rated for ages 13+
• Live broadcasting is defaulted to off for all teens under 18. Teens under 16 will require parental supervision to turn this feature on.
• They will need to review posts that they are tagged in before the post appears on their profile
• They automatically have sleep mode turned on from 10pm to 7am
• They automatically get a reminder to close Facebook after a total of 60 minutes is spent on the app each day
Parental controls or safety settings available
Facebook does provide some additional parental oversight. With agreement from their child (aged under 18), parents can set up ‘Supervision’ for their child’s Facebook and Messenger accounts. This allows them to:
• View contacts, blocked users, privacy settings, and content preferences
• Monitor time spent
• Set daily limits or breaks
• Approve or deny their child’s request to make certain settings less protective
Supervision for Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and Meta Horizon is managed in Meta’s Family Center.
Safety settings allow users to control who contacts them, hide ‘like’ counts, set payment pins, and limit data sharing with search engines or advertisers.
