Effective Dec 20, 2023.

Messenger Kids Privacy Policy
Messenger Kids from Meta is an app that helps children connect, communicate, and engage with family and friends in a fun and age-appropriate environment. Messenger Kids is designed to give parents and guardians control over how, when, and with whom their child connects, communicates, and shares information. It also gives parents and guardians insights into how their child uses the app. Each Messenger Kids account is managed by one (or more, if enabled) Facebook user (“Managing Account”), who has access to these controls and insights in the Parent Dashboard.
This Privacy Policy applies to the information Messenger Kids collects from or about users of the Messenger Kids app (“MK Users”). Parents and guardians of MK Users should review this Privacy Policy together with their children to ensure they understand what information we collect when they use Messenger Kids and how we use and share that information.
Some of the features this Privacy Policy describes are optional and may be available to the MK User only if the MK User or a Managing Account chooses to enable them.
When a Managing Account or other Meta account holders (such as Facebook or Messenger users) interact with an MK User on Messenger Kids, the Meta Privacy Policy shall continue to apply.

What information do we collect?
The information we collect and process depends on how the MK User uses Messenger Kids.
Here’s the information we collect from and about the MK User:
  • Messenger Kids Account Details: Depending on the features enabled for and used by the MK User, we collect the following information:
    • Full name;
    • Profile picture;
    • Birthday;
    • Demographic information, such as gender or other characteristics;
    • Unique identifiers, such as a Messenger Kids username;
    • Connection to a Managing Account on Messenger Kids; and
    • Additional information about the MK User that the MK User or Managing Account may provide.
  • Use of Messenger Kids: We collect the following types of information about the MK User’s use of Messenger Kids:
    • Content and Communications: We collect the content and communications, including messages, stickers, gifs, photos, or videos, that the MK User shares and receives in Messenger Kids.
      • These may include the MK User’s image or voice, if provided.
      • We also collect information about this content and communications, like metadata, which can include information like file size, name of a photo or video, and date or time a photo was taken or a call was initiated and ended.
      • This may also include content the MK User provides through our camera feature or the MK User’s camera roll settings, or through our voice-enabled features. If the MK User uses our camera or allows access to photos and videos, they can add filters, effects or masks. Some of these features process parts of faces or bodies within the camera frame, photo or video. Then they can do things like fit a mask correctly over the eyes, nose and mouth. The information we use for this process is used to create the feature. It’s not used to identify the MK User. These features can be turned off at any time in the Parent Dashboard, and in some places, will not be turned on unless a Managing Account chooses to turn them on.
    • Friends (approved contacts): We collect information about the MK User’s friends on Messenger Kids and how the MK User interacts with them—for example, the friends they interact with most frequently.
    • Usage: We collect information about how the MK User engages with the Messenger Kids app, such as the features they use, including audio or video calling and shared experiences (for example, group conversations and game play) as well as online status, such as the time, frequency, and duration of activities on the app.
    • Contact forms and surveys: We collect information the MK User provides to us through surveys and contact forms, for example when we conduct research about new or existing product features or when an MK User reports a bug in the Messenger Kids App.
  • Device Information: We collect information about the phone or device and network the MK User uses to access Messenger Kids. This information includes:
    • Device attributes: information like the operating system, hardware and software versions, and available storage space;
    • Identifiers: unique identifiers, device IDs, and Facebook Family Device IDs (or other identifiers unique to Meta Company Products associated with the same device or account);
    • Data from device settings: information provided through device settings, such as time zone and the MK User’s access to the camera, photos, or microphone, if those settings are enabled; and
    • Network and connections: information such as language, IP address, and connection speed.

How do we use this information?
  • To provide our services: We use the information we have about the MK User and the Managing Account to enable them to connect, communicate, and engage with others, including sending messages and playing games;
  • To personalize the MK User’s Messenger Kids experience: We use the information we have to optimize Messenger Kids for the MK User and others, including personalization of product features and recommendations for the MK User. This includes, for example, placing the friends the MK User communicates with the most at the top of their contact list, recommending features like a new sticker pack, and suggesting new Messenger Kids friends;
  • To improve our services: We use the information we have to evaluate, troubleshoot, improve, create, and develop our products. We may conduct research and analysis using information we collect in order to improve or develop Meta Products;
  • To communicate with Managing Accounts and MK Users: We use the information we have to communicate with Managing Accounts. We may also use this information to communicate with MK Users. For instance, our communications may include information about an MK User’s activities and friends, updates to the Messenger Kids product, and information about our policies, terms, and practices. When a Managing Account or MK User contacts us, we also use this information to respond to those communications; and
  • To promote safety, security and integrity: We use the information we have to improve safety for our users on and off the product. This includes investigating suspicious activity, reported content, violations of our terms or policies, preventing spam and other bad experiences, combating harmful or unlawful conduct, verifying accounts and activity, detecting and stopping threats to our personnel and property, and maintaining the integrity of Messenger Kids.
We may use human review, automated systems and/or machine learning to accomplish the functions and activities listed in this section.

How is this information shared?
  • MK User’s Friends (approved contacts).
    • Each Managing Account has control over who can communicate with the MK User through Messenger Kids. Each Managing Account can approve each friend request individually, or can choose to allow the MK User to make and accept friend requests on their own without approving each one. The Managing Account may also enable the MK User to join group conversations with Messenger or Messenger Kids users who are not individually approved. If a Managing Account allows the MK User to make and accept friend requests or join group conversations, the Managing Account will still retain the ability to review and remove individual friends. A Managing Account will have to opt in to these functionalities on behalf of the MK User, and a Managing Account can opt out of them at any time.
    • The MK User’s name, profile picture, online status (if enabled), and relationship to a Managing Account are shared with the MK User’s friends on Messenger Kids.
    • The MK User’s friends on Messenger Kids see the content the MK User shares with them and the MK User can view the content their friends share with the MK User. This includes content shared on a video call. It is important to carefully consider the MK User’s friends and permissions, because people who can see their messages and video calls may choose to share them with others who have not been approved to communicate with the MK User. For example, the MK User’s friends can download, screenshot, or reshare content received through the MK User’s messages and video calls with others across Messenger Kids or other products.
  • Managing Accounts.
    • Through the Parent Dashboard, a Managing Account can download or view video and photo messages the MK User sends or receives on Messenger Kids. A Managing Account can also review the MK User’s account details and account activity.
    • Messenger Kids does not record video or audio calls for future playback, so a Managing Account cannot review anything the MK User views or shares while on a video or audio call.
    • The MK User’s name, profile picture, and connection to a Managing Account are visible to others in some circumstances, such as to a Managing Account’s Facebook friends who manage their own Messenger Kids accounts, to anyone a Managing Account invites to create a Messenger Kids account, and to the Managing Accounts of the MK User’s friends. A Managing Account can change some visibility settings from the Parent Dashboard.
  • Our vendors and service providers. We may transfer information we collect to service providers that are needed to support Messenger Kids, such as companies that provide technical infrastructure and support (like a content delivery network) or customer service, or that analyze how Messenger Kids is being used to help us improve the service. These partners must adhere to strict data confidentiality and security obligations, such as restrictions on how they can use the data. We don’t sell any of the MK User’s personal information to anyone, and we never will.
  • Meta Companies. Messenger Kids is offered by Meta, and we may share the information we collect in Messenger Kids with the Meta Companies to support the uses described above and to improve the services provided by the Meta Companies.
  • New Owners. If the ownership or control of all or part of Messenger Kids changes, we may transfer information to the new owner.
  • Law enforcement or legal requests. We share information with law enforcement or in response to legal requests in the circumstances outlined below.

How can Managing Accounts access, manage, and delete information about the MK User?
A Managing Account can manage and review information about the MK User in the Parent Dashboard, which is located in the Managing Account’s Facebook account. This Parent Dashboard allows a Managing Account to make changes to the MK User’s Messenger Kids profile, remove friends, change permissions a Managing Account had opted into, and see images or videos the MK User sends or receives. In addition, a Managing Account can see the MK User’s chat messages on Messenger Kids and their account information by downloading a copy of their information from the Parent Dashboard.
To stop Meta from collecting and using the MK User’s personal information on Messenger Kids, a Managing Account can delete the MK User’s Messenger Kids Account through our Help Center. If a Managing Account deletes the MK User’s account, we will remove from our systems information associated with their account (including their copy of messages), unless we need to keep it for the reasons described below. However, messages and content sent or received by the MK User before their account was deleted will remain visible to those with whom the MK User shared it, and as noted above, they may reshare it with others.
We generally keep information until it is no longer necessary to provide our services, or until the MK User’s account is deleted, whichever comes first. This is a case-by-case determination that depends on things like the nature of the data, why it is collected and processed, and relevant legal or operational retention needs. For example, we may retain registration information subject to law enforcement requests in order to help make the Messenger Kids community safer.

Reporting Suspicious Activity
As described above, we use the information we have to promote user safety on Messenger Kids, but we also provide a reporting tool for MK Users to use when needed. Through their Messenger Kids account, the MK User can report inappropriate content (including harassing, bullying, sexual or violent content) or suspicious activity (for example, if they think someone else is impersonating their friend or family member) and can immediately block the offending individual on Messenger Kids. If the MK User reports someone, we will notify their Managing Account(s) that they did so.

How do we respond to legal requests or prevent harm?
We access, preserve, use, and share the MK User’s information with regulators, law enforcement, or others:
  • In response to legal requests from third parties such as civil litigants, law enforcement, and other government authorities when we have a good-faith belief that we are required by law to do so, the response affects users in the applicable jurisdiction, and it is consistent with internationally recognized standards.
  • When we have a good-faith belief it is necessary to: detect, prevent and address fraud, unauthorized use of Messenger Kids, violations of our terms or policies, or other harmful or illegal activity; to protect ourselves (including our rights, property or products), MK Users, Managing Account holders, or others, including as part of investigations or regulatory inquiries; or to prevent death or imminent bodily harm.
Information we receive about a Managing Account or the MK User can be accessed and preserved for an extended period when it is the subject of a legal request or obligation, governmental investigation, or investigations of possible violations of our terms or policies, or otherwise to prevent harm. We also retain information from accounts that have been disabled for terms violations for at least a year to prevent repeat abuse or other term violations.

How do we operate and transfer data as part of our global services?
We share information globally, both internally within the Meta Companies, and externally with our partners in accordance with this Policy. Managing Account and MK User information may, for example, be transferred or transmitted to, or stored and processed in the United States or other countries outside of where you live for the purposes as described in this Policy. These data transfers are necessary to provide the services set forth in the Messenger Kids Terms of Service and to globally operate and provide our products to Managing Accounts and MK Users. We utilize standard contract clauses, rely on the European Commission's adequacy decisions about certain countries, as applicable, and obtain consent for these data transfers to the United States and other countries.

Updates and Changes to this Policy
Before we make changes to our data collection, use, or sharing practices as reflected in this Policy, we will notify the Managing Account(s) and provide the Managing Account(s) with the opportunity to review the changes before they go into effect for the MK User.

Privacy notice for United States residents
You can learn more about the consumer privacy rights that may be available to you by reviewing the United States Regional Privacy Notice.

Contacting Meta
If you have questions about this policy, please contact Meta Platforms, Inc. through our Help Center or at:

Meta Platforms, Inc.
1601 Willow Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025
mkids-privacy@meta.com
(650) 543-4800