Snapchat Launches New Private Content-Sharing Experience for Teens Aged 13-15 to Enhance Online Safety
Snapchat is launching a new content-sharing experience for users aged 13 to 15 by providing a dedicated profile that allows them to create, save, and view Stories and Spotlight videos exclusively for their friends on the platform.
As a core part of this update, Snapchat users under the age of 16 will no longer be able to post content on Spotlight to a public audience. Instead, the content shared by younger teens will remain strictly private, visible only to those with whom they share real friendships and trusted relationships.
Safety and privacy have been fundamental components of the Snapchat platform since its inception. As young people spend increasingly more time creating, sharing, and communicating online, the platform continues to evolve its experiences to meet their changing needs. These updates reflect a firm commitment to designing age-appropriate experiences, helping younger Snapchatters express themselves and engage online while benefiting from robust levels of privacy and protection.
Age-Based Approach
This update aligns with Snapchat’s age-based approach to content sharing. Users aged 13 to 15 can now only share content exclusively with friends. Meanwhile, users aged 16 to 17 are granted access to public sharing features, supported by additional safety settings, posting restrictions, and parental supervision tools. Conversely, users aged 18 and above can take full advantage of all public profile features and content-posting capabilities available on the platform.
This new experience bolsters the existing suite of safety tools currently available for teens on Snapchat. These include strict default privacy settings, protections against unwanted contact, proactive content moderation, and the "Family Center," which serves as Snapchat’s dedicated in-app parental control tool.
Although sharing moments with friends remains at the very core of the Snapchat experience, these updates provide younger teens with a more secure and private environment to create, save, and share content, while maintaining vital, age-appropriate safety controls.