WhatsApp announced a new set of optional parental control features on September 30, 2026, designed to help parents guide teenagers on the messaging platform without accessing private conversations. The global rollout, which includes Italy, viene resa disponibile progressivamente a livello globale.
The system is optional and allows parents to intervene in specific privacy settings without reading personal messages or listening to calls. According to WhatsApp, personal communications remain protected by end-to-end encryption and are inaccessible to anyone outside the conversation, including the platform itself. Despite the controls activated, WhatsApp precision notes that teenager personal messages and calls remain private and continue to be protected by end-to-end encryption.
Parents Manage Profile Settings with PIN Protection
Parents can manage settings such as who can view a teenager’s profile picture or add them to a group. If a teenager attempts to loosen these restrictions later, parental approval is required through a PIN chosen by the parent. A notification system informs parents when a teenager enters or leaves a group, or when a group they belong to significantly increases its number of participants. Among the possibilities offered to parents is intervening on teenager privacy settings.
Parents Restrict Channels Status Updates and Meta AI
The controls extend to four key activity areas, covering channels, status updates, and Meta AI. Parents can restrict which channels teenagers can discover or follow, and manage status updates by controlling what teens can view and who can see the status content they publish. Controls can also concern the use of Channels, the management of Status updates, and the possibility of choosing which content can be viewed or by whom the ones published by the teenager can be seen. For Meta AI, parents can select between the default 13+ experience and a more restrictive option called “Contenuti limitati”.
Users Link Accounts to Activate Parental Controls
To activate the controls, users must access the teenager’s WhatsApp account nelle Impostazioni by going to the parental control section, confirming the teenager’s date of birth, and following the procedure to link the parent’s account.
Company Expands Supervision Functions for Social Platforms
In 2026, the company introduced and expanded several supervision functions for Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger, with the declared objective of offering parents greater accompanying tools without turning supervision into indiscriminate access to private communications. Marcello Sarta © Il Domani Ibleo – Tutti i diritti riservati
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