Messenger
A guide for families with key information about ‘Messenger’, including the age rating, key terminology, risks and instructions for enabling parental controls and safety settings.
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Messenger is a free social media messaging app and is part of the wider Meta group. Messenger enables Facebook members to chat and video call each other and has over 1.3 billion monthly users worldwide. The platform gives users the chance to create group or individual messages and calls, where they can communicate via text or voice and can also share files and posts with each other. There are a range of fun effects available on the app such as the use of stickers and GIFs, and further playful features within the video call feature. Messenger has a range of privacy settings available and a designated ‘Parents portal’ for parents to explore.
Messenger now sits alongside Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook under the parent company Meta. Meta replaces Facebook as the leading company/brand in this group, and the Meta branding is likely to become increasingly visible on all of these apps.
Official age rating
The minimum age for Messenger users is 13, however, it does not have any rigorous age verification methods.
Messenger accounts are linked to Facebook accounts and the account settings applied in Facebook take effect within Messenger. For account holders under 16, the default settings are ‘Private’. All other Facebook accounts default to a public setting, where content can be viewed by any other users on the platform. Setting a Facebook account to ‘Private’ is recommended.
Find out more about age ratings in our ‘A parent and carer’s guide to age ratings of apps and games’
How children and young people use the app
There are many fun ways to connect with others via the Messenger app. The use of avatars, stickers and GIFs within written messages is engaging for younger users, whilst the use of playful video effects during video calls allows users to have fun when speaking with others. The introduction of ‘Group effects’ to group video calls is an additional fun element. This feature allows users to apply whole group effects that changes the appearance of all participants at the same time. The fact that Messenger syncs with your Facebook account makes it easy for young people to use and connect with their friends.
Key features and terminology
Potential risks
Content
Like other messaging apps - many personal stories, messages and pictures are shared by users on Messenger that are not moderated. The best way to help limit the content your child is exposed to is to ensure they are only connecting with people they know, rather than strangers. Ensure the privacy settings have been set to ‘Facebook friends’ rather than everyone.
It is also possible your child may stumble across inappropriate content in the form of bad language or mature content in their messages. By restricting who your child can access on the platform, your child is less likely to experience language or behaviour that is not suitable for their age. However, it should be acknowledged that your child may still be exposed to inappropriate content by their known contacts.
Connecting with others
As Messenger is linked to a user’s Facebook account, it is important for your child to be aware of their Facebook privacy settings to help limit contact within Messenger. Meta has introduced changes that prevent Messenger users under 18 from receiving messages from accounts they do not follow. Despite this, parents should still be aware that people may use fake information to persuade users to follow or accept friend requests from them.
With Messenger putting more emphasis on video calls rather than just written chats, it is important that your child has enabled the relevant privacy settings to avoid strangers being able to call them. Full information on privacy and video call settings can be found in the ‘Managing privacy’ section of this app guide.
The ‘Communities’ feature allows up to 5,000 users to be connected in different group chats. Messenger advises that these ‘Communities’ are designed to be public and incorporate stronger moderation practices, which include attaching notices to misinformation and reviewing content that goes against their community standards. However, as ‘Communities’ are public, unknown users can use the community chat to find profiles and send them direct messages. Users can see and interact with blocked users in community chats, meaning a user that your child has previously blocked can contact them in the community chat.
It is advised that your child does not join any communities with people they do not personally know and ensure that relevant privacy settings to prevent strangers from contacting them are enabled. If your child is in a community chat, you should ensure that your child knows how to leave a the chat if it begins to become uncomfortable for them. Steps to leave community chats can be found in the ‘Managing Interactions and Content’ section of this guide, and steps to prevent strangers from contacting your child can be found in the ‘Managing privacy’ section of this guide.
As with other social networks, it is possible for users to set up fake accounts, pretending to be someone else. Encourage your child to question whether they really know the person who has sent a message before accepting. Speak to your child about the risks of connecting with strangers and explain the importance of not sharing personal or private information within chats.
User behaviour
If your child has their own Messenger account, it is important for you and them to be aware of what they share within messages and calls, and the impact this will have on their digital footprint. The introduction of ‘Disappearing messages’, ‘End-to-end encryption,’ and ‘Edited messages’ within Messenger has meant that some users assume they cannot be held accountable for what they share or have it traced back to them. However, young people need to be aware that any content they post leaves a digital footprint. Remind your child that anyone can take a screen shot of a message before it disappears. Have a conversation with them to help them understand what is and is not appropriate for them to share and discuss the various ways they can protect themselves. Ensure your child knows it can be difficult to keep ownership of any content once it has been shared online, as it can easily be copied and reposted without their knowledge and can then become difficult to remove from the internet.
Messenger now has in-app parental supervision options available, which come with a range of features available to parents and carers. These include being able to see how much time their child spends on Messenger, who their child adds as a contact on Messenger, view who can message their child, and their child’s privacy and safety settings among many other features. It is advised that you speak with your child about enabling supervision. It may be important to specify that parental supervision is not about taking away your child’s privacy but ensuring that your child is safe on Messenger and to avoid inappropriate or upsetting content.
Design, data and costs
As with many other messaging apps, it has been designed to keep users engaged and on the platform for extended periods of time. It can be difficult for children to resist the notifications encouraging them to respond. Encourage your child to take a break from Messenger by enabling the ‘do not disturb’ feature, which will stop all notifications for a set amount of time.
The ‘Chat head’ feature may keep young people more engaged in the app or conversation by repeatedly showing who they are talking to, even while on other apps. Whilst this feature is disabled by default, it can be enabled in settings. It is advised that you do not enable this setting to help ensure extended engagement stays at a minimum. If your child has enabled ‘Chat heads’, encourage your child to disable the feature to help them maintain control of their personal time and resist pressure to use the app. Guidance to disable chat heads can be found in the ‘Managing interactions and content’ section of this guide.
Messenger’s ‘Read receipts’ can also create an obligation by users to reply as soon as they have opened a message. They can also negatively affect users’ mental health if they can see that the recipient has seen a message but not replied. We therefore encourage users to turn this feature off as illustrated in the ‘managing time and purchases’ section of this guide.
Tips for keeping your child safe
Additional tips
Keeping up to date with your child’s settings and friends on Facebook will help manage their privacy and interactions within Messenger, as both accounts are linked.
Meta has created a dedicated Teen privacy centre to help teen users manage their privacy on all Meta platforms.
Facebook has a designated ‘Parents portal’ which is worth exploring to find out more about Facebook and Messenger.