Instagram Halts App For Kids Plans Amid Scrutiny

[RAMROD 117,125]

Facebook said on Monday that it had paused development of an Instagram Kids service that would be tailored for children 13 years old or younger, as the social network increasingly faces questions about the app’s effect on young people’s mental health.

The pullback preceded a congressional hearing this week about internal research conducted by Facebook, and reported in The Wall Street Journal, that showed the company knew of the harmful mental health effects that Instagram was having on teenage girls. The revelations have set off a public relations crisis for the Silicon Valley company and led to a fresh round of calls for new regulation.

Facebook said it still wanted to build an Instagram product intended for children that would have a more “age appropriate experience,” but was postponing the plans in the face of criticism.

The decision to halt the app’s development is a rare reversal for Facebook. In recent years, the social network has become perhaps the world’s most heavily scrutinized corporation, grappling with privacy accusations, hate speech, misinformation and allegations of anticompetitive business practices. Regulators, lawmakers, journalists and civil society groups around the world have criticized the company for its effects on society.
 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/technology/facebook-instagram-for-kids.html

 

 

 

[Born This Way 1,817]

Why would they think something like that is good in the first place