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Antigone Davis, Facebook’s global head of security, is expected to face harsh questioning from senators Thursday morning about Instagram’s impact on teens, and is expected to address accusations that the photo-sharing app Facebook has known for years has caused mental and emotional harm.
The hearing, which started at 10 am, is the first of two hearings. Senate consumer protection subcommittee Facebook’s influence on young people will continue. The second will be on Tuesday with an informant who shares information about Facebook’s research on teenagers.
The hearings were held after The Wall Street Journal published a series of articles about internal research on Facebook this month. one of the articles According to Facebook’s findings, one in three teens said that Instagram makes their body image problems worse. Among teens with suicidal thoughts, 13 percent of British users and 6 percent of American users said they could follow these thoughts to Instagram.
On Wednesday evening, Facebook released two slide decks from the research cited by The Journal. The company made intense explanations to the slides, occasionally discussing or reframing the veracity and purpose of the research report. The company said in its slides that many teens have reported positive experiences on Instagram, including that the app has occasionally helped mental health.
Lawmakers criticized the company and its executives for concealing the research, which appears to contradict public statements by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram executive Adam Mosseri. Both have long scorned warnings that Instagram – through filters that can improve images and a “like” button that can serve as a popularity indicator – is creating a rife for younger users and making many young people feel worse about themselves.
This week, Mr. Mosseri, Facebook’s Pause plans to release a kid-friendly version of Instagram in primary and secondary school.
Mr Mosseri said The Journal’s Instagram article took the research out of context and that the number of young people in the study was “fairly small”. He said many teens report positive experiences on Instagram.
Ms. Davis, who has led security at Facebook for seven years, is expected to repeat this message at the hearing. The company championed the idea of an app for kids like YouTube Kids, saying it could provide stronger security and privacy features for younger kids than the main Instagram app.
“From turning a blind eye to the negative impact of their platforms on the mental health of youth to their inability to police trafficking, domestic slavery and other crimes,” Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, the top Republican on the consumer protection subcommittee, said in a statement. harmful content, Facebook has a lot to take into account. ”
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