Big WhatsApp changes for parents in South Africa
Messaging platform WhatsApp has announced the rollout of new controls for parents in South Africa, allowing stricter oversight of what their children can access.
The group said this is “just the start” of new features aimed at creating a safer platform for families and teenagers in particular.
With the new controls, parents will be able to:
- Choose privacy settings for their child, like who can see their profile photo or add them to groups. If a child wants to relax any of those settings, they’ll need their parent’s approval via a parent-set PIN.
- Track who their child is connecting with by choosing to receive notifications when they join or leave a group, or when a group grows.
- Decide on the Meta AI experience and how they can interact with the Channels and Status features on WhatsApp. This includes the default 13+ setting and a stricter ‘Limited Content’ option.
Notably, the controls are in place to safeguard children without intruding on their privacy. The tools are also entirely optional.
“All of these controls are being designed to support open conversations about how to use WhatsApp between parents and teens, while keeping everyone’s personal messages private,” WhatsApp said.
Even with controls turned on, personal messages and calls stay private and protected by end-to-end encryption.
“No one outside of the chat, not even WhatsApp, can see or hear them,” the group said.
“Parents choose how much support their teen needs, and can adjust or switch the controls off at any time.”
The update comes as social platforms are under fire in various countries, with some governments imposing strict age limits on access.
Australia has banned children under 16 from accessing social media since December 2025, unless platforms can successfully verify users’ ages.
Other countries have followed suit, with the platforms themselves also being required to undergo various verification tests to ensure that age limits are not violated.
While it has been proposed that a similar social media ban could be implemented in South Africa, the government has officially nixed the notion.
Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Solly Malatsi, this month confirmed that such a ban isn’t even being considered.
“There is currently no irrefutable indication that a general social media access ban for persons under 16 years old actually prevents them from being digitally active on such platforms,” he said.
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