WTAF, Google?!

[Celerity]

5. Google reverses key parental control policy. Teens will now need to get explicit permission to remove a parental

supervision setting.

https://mashable.com/article/google-family-link-parental-controls-turn-off-at-13

Google announced Monday that the company is reversing its longstanding practice of allowing minors supervised by their parents via Family Link to unilaterally opt-out of those settings upon turning 13. Soon, if a teen wants to manage their own account, it require parental approval. A spokesperson for Google told Mashable that the policy goes into effect globally this week.

"These changes better ensure protections stay in place until both the parent and teen feel ready for the next step," Kate Charlet, Google's head of global privacy, safety, and security, wrote in a LinkedIn post about the change.

The Google spokesperson said the new policy had been planned for some time. Still, it was announced soon after an online child safety advocate drew viral attention to the company's previous policy in a viral Linkedin post. As of this story's publication, the post had elicited more than 600 comments and received 375,000 impressions.

Melissa McKay, president of the advocacy organization Digital Childhood Institute, wrote the post after receiving an email notification that her 12-year-old son would soon be able to adjust the parental controls she'd set for him through Google's Family Link product. Mashable reviewed the email, which McKay described as short and vague.

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