In amidst the debate in Australia around whether to restrict the use of social media to kids over 16 years old, usage Snapchat has unveiled a suite of new safety features designed to protect users from online harms such as sextortion and bullying.

The new tools include expanded in-chat warnings, enhanced friending protections, blocking improvements, and simplified location-sharing. These features aim to reinforce real friend connections on Snapchat, a platform that Snap Inc. is committed to making a safe, private, and well-being prioritised environment for Australians, particularly teens.

Snap positioned the new features as building on ongoing work to make it difficult for strangers to find and contact teens on Snapchat, and its commitment to combating online sextortion.

Expanded in-app warnings will now alert teens if they receive a chat from someone who has been blocked or reported by others, or is from a region where the teenager’s network isn't typically located.

New friending safeguards will prevent delivery of a friend request when teens send or receive a request from someone they don't have mutual friends with, and that person also has a history of accessing Snapchat in locations often associated with scamming activity.

Blocking improvements mean that blocking a user will also block new friend requests sent from other accounts created on the same device. Simplified location-sharing and additional reminders will help Snapchatters to customise which of their existing Snapchat friends can see their whereabouts. Location sharing on the Snap Map remains off by default, and Snapchatters can only ever share their whereabouts with their existing Snapchat friends.

"Snapchat is designed differently to traditional social media, with a focus on helping people connect with friends they know in real life, and we’re always working to make Snapchat an even more fun – and safe – place to do just that," said Ben Au, Public Policy Lead ANZ, at Snap Inc.

"As new online harms continue to emerge, we’re committed to developing ways to protect our community against these risks, especially with the safety of young Australians in mind.

"We’ve worked diligently to fight back against sextortion across the platform, from designing the app to not display public friend lists, which can be used to facilitate sextortion schemes, to not allowing teens to be messaged by anyone they haven’t added as a friend, or don’t have in their phone contacts. And we continue to educate Snapchatters through resources like our in-app Safety Snapshot on financial sextortion, and on our Privacy & Safety Hub."

"Our newest safeguards are all about supporting real and genuine connections, empowering young people to make smart choices, and ensuring that every Snapchatter feels secure and confident while using our platform," Au concluded.

Snapchat has 8 million Australians every month.