Google announced Monday that the company is reversing its longstanding practice of allowing children supervised by their parents through Family Link to opt out of those settings when they turn 13.
Soon, if a teenager wants to control his account, he needs parental consent. A Google spokesperson told Mashable that the policy will go into effect globally this week.
“These changes better ensure that protection remains in place until both parent and child feel ready for the next step,” Kate Charlet, Google’s head of global privacy, safety, and security, wrote in a LinkedIn post about the change.
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A Google spokesperson said this new policy had been planned for a long time. However, it was announced shortly after a child online safety advocate drew attention to the company’s previous policy on LinkedIn’s viral site. As of the publication of this story, the post had solicited more than 600 comments and received 375,000 impressions.
Melissa McKay, president of the advocacy organization Digital Childhood Institute, wrote this post after receiving an email notification that her 12-year-old son will soon be able to adjust the parental controls she can set for him through Google’s Family Link product. Mashable reviewed the email, which McKay described as brief and vague.
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In his view, it failed to explain the changes made to his son’s account or to include links that properly explain it.
McKay, who researched and wrote a 2025 complaint to the Federal Trade Commission against Google over its youth safety practices, added that he would have skipped the email if he hadn’t looked at the company’s policies.
The email noted that her son would receive the same notification. McKay asked her son to read the message and found it linked to information about how to remove parental controls when he turns 13, without his parent’s permission. McKay said he did not receive similar information; the link in his email explained the age requirements for Google accounts.
In an email sent by his son, which Mashable reviewed and which Google did not dispute, the company acknowledges that he will soon turn 13 and can update his account to access other Google products and services. As of publication of this story, a source explains that “[c]kids decide when to update their Google Account.”
This explanation from Google makes the decision to end parental control a child’s choice.
Credit: Google
“In nearly ten years as a cyber security attorney, this is among the most offensive business practices I’ve seen,” McKay wrote in his LinkedIn post.
According to Google’s Family Link source, when a child switches to controlling their account, parents will no longer be able to set timeouts, allow or block apps, or find out what their child is doing on Family Link. Teens who manage their Google Account will also have extensive use of Google Wallet and Pay, including when using a card added to their profile before their 13th birthday.
McKay welcomed the company’s new policy but believes more changes are needed to protect children online from what he described as corporate exploitation.
