Research shows Facebook knew of Instagram harm to teens
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Instagram is a very popular social media app today. Owned by Facebook, Instagram has roughly about 1 billion users worldwide.
Recently, the Wall Street Journal newspaper reported that Facebook knew Instagram was causing harm to teenagers, especially teen girls. Before this, Facebook had been planning to launch Instagram Kids, an app aimed at pre-teens. But it has put the plan on hold.
Senators of the US Congress called officials of Facebook for a hearing on the issue. At the hearing, Antigone Davis, Facebook’s global head of safety, said that the research was not correct. And the company was working to be more transparent about its findings.
Many senators criticised Facebook saying that it hid the knowledge of the harm it was causing. The senators also said that Facebook focused more on profits rather than protecting children from harm. They also questioned Davis on different issues, such as, what data Facebook collects on its young users.
Moreover, at the hearing, a former Facebook employee also told US senators that the company’s sites and apps “harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy”.
What does the research say?
32% of teenage girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse. They also said that Instagram caused rising rates of anxiety and depression in them.
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, said the research into Instagram was not entirely correct. And that many young people had positive experiences of using it.
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