Is Threads Safe for Kids? Threads App Review for Parents

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Overview
Recommended age: 12 and up

What do you get when you cross Twitter with Instagram? You get Threads, an app that combines the text-based nature of Twitter with the design, look, and feel of Instagram and all your existing Instagram contacts. The app launched in the summer of 2023 and quickly amassed millions of followers in just a few days.

Harmful content😲
As with Twitter, the greatest danger to children lies in the large amount of potentially inappropriate content, such as pornography, sexual content, and hate speech. As of July 2023, Threads still doesn’t have a search function or topic tagging feature, which makes finding any content a bit difficult.

Currently, the app relies on updates from people you follow and strangers. Mark Zuckerberg has said that he intends to strictly enforce Thread’s community guidelines to combat dangerous content, but as with all social media, that’s usually just a wish, not a promise.

Predation🚨
Currently, there are no direct messages from Threads, which is a great way for predators to contact children privately in order to begin the luring process. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible – people can still exchange contact info for other platforms in comments and replies.

Positively 💙
So far, the Threads experience seems to be slightly more positive than Twitter, but that’s certainly not saying much. Such apps are largely text-based and are good for people (usually adults)! – Keeping up with the news and making friends with common interests. But for kids, it can be a bit overwhelming and can expose them to some bad stuff.

Privacy 🔒.
After downloading Threads, you can create an account using your existing Instagram username (although you can always create a new Instagram account for a new Threads profile). The app does allow you to set your profile to private, but that’s about it as far as privacy is concerned.

Parental Controls ✅
Threads isn’t off-limits to children over the age of 12, but that doesn’t mean it’s for them – like all social media.

Threads does have some parental controls, although they’re not password-locked, which means your child can turn them off at any time.Users under the age of 16 will be automatically taken to a private profile, but this can also be disabled.

Here’s what you can control:

Private profile: turning this on means that only approved followers can view and interact with your child’s content.

Mentions: You can choose whether people can “@” or mention your child in topics, replies or profiles.

Mute: when you mute someone, you won’t see any of their content, but they can still see yours.

Hide Words: If a comment contains offensive words (or custom words of your choosing), you can manage whether or not the comment shows up in your child’s dynamic.

Blocked profiles: You can completely block someone from appearing in your child’s Threads experience, and they won’t be able to see your child’s content.

Hide Likes: this prevents your child’s content from showing views and likes.

Of course, Bark can lend a helping hand! With Bark, you can:

Block threads altogether if needed.
Manage when your child can use Threads throughout the day.
So, should my child download it?
Probably not at this time. The app is still trying to figure out its niche, but for now it’s set up too much like Twitter to be safe for kids.