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Facebook Messenger for Kids is now available in Mexico
Today marks Facebook releasing its Messenger for Kids app to our friendly southern neighbor. It doesn't have any Mexico-specific features, and unlike when it was released in Canada and Peru, it isn't part of a larger feature roll-out like a Spanish-language version, either. No matter, it being available to the nation's 130 million residents is pretty big in and of itself.
Facebook Messenger 'sleep mode' locks your kids out at bedtime
Facebook's Messenger for Kids has courted its share of controversy in the short time it's been on the scene. In an effort to clean up the app's reputation, Facebook is adding a feature that parents have been asking for: making it inaccessible during certain timeframes. Specifically, during dinner, when they should be doing homework or at bedtime. Thus, "sleep mode" for the app.
Advocacy group urges Facebook to pull Messenger for Kids
Facebook started rolling out its messaging app for kids last December, offering a standalone app with parental controls built right in. The app is available on iOS and Android Fire tablets, and allows children under the age of 13 to chat with approved contacts. As you might imagine, however, child advocacy groups have taken issue with it. In a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood express concern that "this new app will undermine children's healthy development."
