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Facebook said on Monday it is pausing development of an “Instagram Kids” service that will be adapted for children 13 and under because of questions about the app’s impact on teens’ mental health.
The announcement comes before a convention hearing on internal research conducted and reported by Facebook this week Wall Street JournalThis illustrated the detrimental mental health effects of Instagram on teenage girls.
Facebook said it wanted to create an Instagram product for kids that would have a more “age-appropriate experience,” but delayed plans in the face of outside criticism.
“This will give us time to work with parents, experts, policymakers and regulators to listen to their concerns and demonstrate the value and importance of this project for young teenagers today,” said Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram. a blog Message.
Facebook argued that young people are already using Instagram despite age requirement rules, so it would be better to develop a version, he said. It is more convenient for them with more parental control. Google-owned YouTube has released a kid-oriented version of its app.
But since Facebook was revealed to be working on the app earlier this year, the company has faced criticism from policymakers, regulators, child safety groups and consumer rights groups. They argued that instead of protecting children from service-related issues such as predation, bullying, and body shaming, they tied them to the practice at a younger age.
Opposition to Facebook’s plans gained momentum this month when The Journal published a series of articles based on leaked internal documents showing that it knew of the many harms caused by Facebook. Facebook’s internal research has shown that Instagram still has a negative mental health impact on young people, especially teenage girls, even as company executives publicly try to minimize the downsides of the app.
This is breaking news. Check back for updates.
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