Google will require parental consent so that minors can deactivate Family Link parental controls

Google has updated its parental control policy so that parents have to give their explicit consent before a minor can disable parental supervision managed with Family Link in your Google account, when you turn 13 years old.

Family Link is a parental control application that allows Parents and guardians monitor and manage the activity of minors on their Android and ChromeOS phones and tablets. Specifically, it allows you to set screen time limits, approve or block applications and downloads, view location or filter content, in addition to managing the child’s Google account.

This parental control tool is available by default for all accounts of children under 13 years of age. However, when they reach this age or the age stipulated in each country, children with accounts managed with Family Link can choose to maintain supervision Parental for those over 13 years of age or take charge of managing their account themselves from Google.

Currently, it is a decision that children are unilaterally responsible for, as Google details on its support page, since they are the ones who decide when to update your account to stop monitoring.

However, Google is updating its parental control policy so that decision must be explicitly approved by the parents in charge of your Family Link account. That is, from now on, any minor must obtain the approval of his or her parent or guardian in charge before being able to deactivate supervision, in order to be a adult the fact that decide which is the best option for the safety of the minor.

This was detailed by Google’s director of global privacy, security and protection, Kate Charlet, in a post on LinkedIn, where she assured that these changes will guarantee that “the protections remain in force until both the padre like him adolescent with feel prepared for the next step.”

This change in the management of minor accounts will begin to be implemented apply globally this weekas confirmed by a Google spokesperson to Mashable. Thus, it is a change with which the technology company seeks to offer experiences adapted to each age and improve parental controls.

Although the Google spokesperson has detailed that the new guideline had been planned for a long time, it must be taken into account that this update is preceded by some complaints from some parents and child advocates.

This is the case of a publication by the president of the advocacy organization Digital Chilhood Institute, Melisa McKay, who denounced that, when it comes time to turn 13, the company sends a email to the minor explaining how he can remove those controls himselfwithout the participation or consent of the parents. In addition, it also sends an email briefly informing parents or guardians that the minor can now update their account.

In the email sent to minors, Google details that, if they update their account by removing supervision, they will be able access more applications and services, as well as configure it to your liking. However, it does not specify that they should assume full responsibility for your account.

As a result, when the minor manages his account, the Parents are no longer able to configure monitoring functions, such as sleep time, content or app blocking, and Location Sharing is disabled. On the other hand, it offers many more freedoms to minors, such as they can add payment cards to Google Wallet or Google Pay on your ownwithout monitoring of transactions.