How messaging works

Direct messages on MyPathSocials are private — but with real safety rails built in.

Who can message you?

Only people you mutually follow. That means:

• You follow them, and they follow you back
• You're both in the same age group (kids ↔ kids, teens ↔ teens)
• Neither of you has blocked the other
• Both of your guardians have DMs enabled (for kids)

Strangers cannot reach you. Ever.

For kids (5–12)

• Canned responses only — you pick from about 20 friendly phrases like "👋 Hi!" and "🎮 Want to play?"
• You cannot type freely — this keeps everyone safe
• Your parent or guardian must enable messaging for your account first
• Your guardian can see every message you send and receive
• Your guardian can turn messaging off at any time

For teens (13–17)

• You can type freely — write anything you want
• Every message is scanned for profanity, threats, and personal information
• Messages with unsafe content may be blocked or flagged for review
• Rate limit: 30 messages per hour
• A linked guardian can see your conversations
• If no guardian is linked, you can use DMs freely — but you're still moderated

How to start a chat

1. Find someone in the feed or via search
2. Tap their name to open their profile
3. Tap Follow — wait for them to follow you back
4. Once you're mutually following, a Message button appears
5. Tap it → the chat opens

You can also start a chat from the Messages page — it lists everyone you can talk to.

What happens when you send a message

1. Content is scanned for profanity, threats, and personal info
2. Personal information is blocked (phone numbers, addresses, emails)
3. Hard-blocked words → message rejected outright
4. Soft-flagged words → message posted but flagged for review
5. Rate limit — 30 messages per hour per user

Reporting and blocking

• Block — tap the block button on any profile. Neither of you can DM each other anymore
• Report — tap the flag on any message. Our moderators review within 24 hours
• Disable the conversation — a guardian can turn off a specific conversation if something feels wrong

Guardian visibility

If your child has a linked guardian:

• The guardian sees every DM thread in their dashboard
• They see the full content of every message
• They can disable any conversation
• They can turn off all DMs for their child entirely

What we don't do

• No group DMs (1-to-1 only, for now)
• No voice or video calls
• No media in DMs (text and canned responses only)
• No message editing or deletion

Why these rules?

Direct messages are the hardest thing to moderate on any social platform. We've built the safest version of DMs that still lets you actually talk to your friends.

Kids get canned responses (so nothing unsafe can be said). Teens get free text (so they can talk normally). Everyone stays moderated. And parents always have visibility.