Facebook puts Instagram for kids on hold after push back
“I still firmly believe that it’s a good thing to build a
version of Instagram that’s designed to be safe for tweens, but we want to take
the time to talk to parents and researchers and safety experts and get to more
consensus about how to move forward," said Adam Mosseri, the head of
Instagram, in an interview Monday on NBC’s “Today” show.
The announcement follows a investigative series by The
Wall Street Journal which reported that Facebook was
aware that the use of Instagram by some teenage girls led to mental health
issues and anxiety.
Yet the development of Instagram for a younger audience
was met with broader opposition almost immediately.
Facebook announced the development of an Instagram Kids
app in March, saying at the time that it was “exploring a parent-controlled
experience.” Two months later, a bipartisan group of 44 attorneys general wrote
to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, urging him to abandon the project, citing
the well being of children.
They cited increased cyberbullying, possible
vulnerability to online predators, and what they called Facebook’s “checkered
record” in protecting children on its platforms. Facebook faced similar
criticism in 2017 when it launched the Messenger Kids app, touted as a way for
children to chat with family members and friends approved by parents.
Josh Golin, executive director of children’s digital
advocacy group Fairplay, urged the company Monday to permanently pull the plug
on the app.
“We urge Facebook to use this ‘pause’ to actually engage
with the independent child development experts who understand how Instagram
will undermine young children’s wellbeing,” he said in a prepared statement.
Mosseri maintained Monday that the company believes it's
better for children under 13 to have a specific platform for age-appropriate
content, and that other companies like TikTok and YouTube have
app versions for that age group.
He said in a blog post that it's better to have a version
of Instagram where parents can supervise and control their experience rather
than relying on the company’s ability to verify if kids are old enough to use
the app.
Mosseri said that Instagram for kids is meant for those
between the ages of 10 and 12, not younger. It will require parental permission
to join, be ad free, and will include age-appropriate content and features.
Parents will be able to supervise the time their children spend on the app,
oversee who can message them, who can follow them and who they can follow.
While work is being paused on Instagram Kids, the company
will be expanding opt-in parental supervision tools to teen accounts of those
13 and older. More details on these tools will be disclosed in the coming
months, Mosseri said.
Source abcnews
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