Discord introduces new tool that informs parents about teen's activity

SAN FRANCISCO: Popular chatting platform Discord has introduced a new opt-in tool 'Family Center' that makes it easier for teens to keep their parents and guardians informed about their Discord activity while respecting their autonomy.

"Similar to how parents know who their teens are friends with and what clubs they’re a part of at school, Family Center helps them learn more about who their teens are friends with and talk to on Discord," the company said in a blogpost on Tuesday.

With the new feature, the platform aims to "help foster productive dialogue about safer internet habits, and to create mutually beneficial ways for parents and teens to connect about experiences online."

The tool has two major components-- a new activity dashboard accessible from Discord at any time, and a weekly email summary containing high-level information about the teen’s activity.

Teen account activity is not shared in the Family Center without their consent. Teen accounts connected to parents via the new tool will share the information in a dashboard that is accessible to parents in-app at any time.

The information includes the number of users teens have messaged or called, the number of new friends they have added and how many servers they are actively participating in.

However, parents will not be able to see the contents of the conversations teens have had with others, the platform said.