Social media platform Facebook is facing a tough time after a design flaw in its Messenger Kids app allowed users to sidestep the protection and allowed children to enter group chats with unapproved strangers. Facebook’s Messenger Kids, launched in 2017, was initially meant to be a safe space for children who were too young to use the “grown-up” version of the social network. The app only allowed children to chat with friends who were approved by a parent.
After the detection of the design flaw, Facebook has been working on quietly closing down all those group chats and alerting users. However, the social media app has not made any public statements disclosing the issue.
The Verge also obtained a message sent by Facebook to all the parents, notifying, “Hi [PARENT], We found a technical error that allowed [CHILD]’s friend [FRIEND] to create a group chat with [CHILD] and one or more of [FRIEND]’s parent-approved friends. We want you to know that we’ve turned off this group chat and are making sure that group chats like this won’t be allowed in the future. If you have questions about Messenger Kids and online safety, please visit our Help Center and Messenger Kids parental controls. We’d also appreciate your feedback.”
Confirming the same Facebook said, “We recently notified some parents of Messenger Kids account users about a technical error that we detected affecting a small number of group chats. We turned off the affected chats and provided parents with additional resources on Messenger Kids and online safety.”
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