As South Africa observed Youth Month, Meta brought together parents, educators, creators, youth advocates, and industry stakeholders at the Youth Online Safety Summit held at Venue Greenpark in Sandton to explore ways technology can support safer and healthier online experiences for teenagers.

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The summit focused on Meta’s efforts to strengthen online safety through built-in protections, parental supervision tools, and digital literacy initiatives designed to help young people navigate digital spaces more confidently. Speaking at the event, Sylvia Musalagani, head of safety policy for Africa, the Middle East, and Turkey at Meta, said the company aims to support both teenagers and parents through tools that make online supervision more manageable while creating positive spaces for connection, learning, and opportunity. Central to this approach are Meta’s Teen Accounts, which introduce automatic protections for users under 18.

These include private account settings, stricter messaging controls, reduced exposure to sensitive content, limits on interactions from strangers, daily usage reminders, and overnight sleep mode features. For teens under 16, certain settings cannot be changed without parental approval. Meta also showcased enhanced parental supervision tools, giving parents greater insight into their teens’ online activity through notifications, time management controls, and visibility into online engagement patterns.

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The summit emphasised that online safety extends beyond platform features. Through the safety online portal, Family Centre, and digital literacy programmes, Meta is encouraging ongoing conversations between parents, educators, and young people. Participants agreed that creating safer digital spaces requires collective action, with government, industry, families, and young people all playing a role in building a safer online environment.

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