15 Aug 2017
The Office of the eSafety Commissioner has recently received several online complaints about compromised Snapchat accounts. The issues arose after the release of the new Snapchat 'Memories' feature, where users can preserve content in a secure archive on their phone. This includes a section called "My Eyes Only", a PIN protected area where explicit snaps can be stored. Please ensure your child sets strong passwords / PINs for all accounts, and never gives out confidential information (even to friends).
A reminder to all parents that the minimum age for using Snapchat is 13 years old. In compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, when Snapchat is downloaded, the app asks for the users date of birth. If your child enters their true date of birth, they are redirected to the kid version of Snapchat, called "SnapKidz".
For more information and for tips on how to prevent a compromised Snapchat or SnapKidz account, please refer to the eSafety website: https://www.esafety.gov.au/
