The new features in the platform’s Family Center, which also allow a parent to view their child’s story, contact and location settings, will be rolled out in the next few weeks DUBAI: Snapchat parent company Snap Inc. said it is expanding the tools and features it offers through the platform’s Family Center, to give parents greater options to monitor and control the online safety of their children. Family Center, which was introduced in 2022, allows parents to see who their teenagers are talking to on Snapchat, set controls on content, and confidentially report any concerns. The new features, which are due to be rolled out in the coming weeks, will let parents view their child’s story, contact and location settings. For example, they will be able to see whether the youngster has chosen to share a story with all friends or a smaller group of selected users. They can also check whether a child has opted to accept messages in Snapchat only from friends or from all contacts saved on their phone and, similarly, whether a child is sharing location data with friends on the Snap Map. The company said it will also soon introduce parental controls for its chatbot, My AI, giving parents the option to restrict the ability of technology to respond to chat requests from their children. Snapchat said it works closely with families and online safety experts to develop its Family Center and uses the feedback it receives from them to add new features on a regular basis. The announcement of the latest tools for parents comes weeks before Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel is scheduled to testify before the US Senate, on Jan. 31, along with his counterparts at TikTok, Meta, X and Discord.