Facebook Pausing Controversial ‘Instagram Kids’ Amid Criticism

Facebook’s Instagram announced Monday it is pausing its controversial plan to develop a version of the photo-sharing app for children under 13 years old, a decision that comes amid renewed criticism of the project, which recent reporting from The Wall Street Journal revealed was moving forward despite internal research showing the app can be very harmful to young people.“Critics of ‘Instagram Kids’ will see this as an acknowledgement that the project is a bad idea. That’s not the case,” Mosseri wrote. “The reality is that kids are already online, and we believe that developing age-appropriate experiences designed specifically for them is far better for parents than where we are today.”Facebook’s plan for “Instagram Kids” has sparked ongoing concern since BuzzFeed News first reported it was in the works in mid-March. Public health experts from organizations across the world—including the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and ParentsTogether Action—warned Zuckerberg Instagram’s focus on photo-sharing and appearance “makes the platform particularly unsuitable for children who are in the midst of crucial stages of developing their sense of self.” A group of over 40 attorneys general then appealed to Zuckerberg to nix plans for the Instagram alternative, citing concerns about cyber bullying, sexual grooming and the general impact of social media on young people’s mental health. These concerns were exacerbated by The Journal investigation from earlier this month uncovering years of internal research by Facebook which found Instagram to have harmful effects among a significant portion of its millions of young users. The newspaper obtained and published slides from presentations in which researchers summarized the findings of what they called a “teen mental health deep dive,” including a study which found Instagram makes “body image issues worse for one in three teenage girls.” The company’s internal research also found “teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression,” a reaction researchers described as “unprompted and consistent across all groups.” The researchers noted that many of these problems are unique to Instagram because it focuses heavily on body and lifestyle, meaning “social comparison is worse on Instagram.”The company has repeatedly pushed back against The Journal’s reporting, with Facebook’s VP and Head of Research Pratiti Raychoudhury dismissing it as “not accurate” in a Sunday blog post. Raychoudhury claimed many teens reported Instagram helps them when they are “struggling with the kinds of hard moments and issues teenagers have always faced.”Facebook’s global head of safety Antigone Davis is expected to appear before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Thursday to answer questions about the The Journal’s findings.


All data is taken from the source: http://forbes.com
Article Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/09/27/facebook-pausing-controversial-instagram-kids-amid-criticism/


#instagram #newsusa #newstodayabc #newstodayupdate #newstodayinusa #newstodaycnn #