Lawmakers Ask Zuck to Drop 'Instagram for Kids' Since App Made Kids Suicidal

# · 🔥 257 · 💬 154 · 2 years ago · gizmodo.com · bryan0 · 📷
Democratic lawmakers are calling on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to abandon his plans to launch an "Instagram for Kids," citing internal research by the company declaring the platform has inflamed mental-health problems, including suicidal ideation, among its teenage users; most notably, young girls. The demand comes as top lawmakers on the Senate Commerce Committee announced plans to investigate the company with the help of a "Facebook whistleblower." "Children and teens are uniquely vulnerable populations online, and these findings paint a clear and devastating picture of Instagram as an app that poses significant threats to young people's wellbeing," the lawmakers said. Twenty-two million teens in the United States use Instagram on a daily basis, the paper said. "When given the opportunity to come clean to us about their knowledge of Instagram's impact on young users, Facebook provided evasive answers that were misleading and covered up clear evidence of significant harm," the lawmakers said. Markey, Castor, and Trahan said Wednesday that the once-secret documents underscore "Facebook's responsibility to fundamentally change its approach to engaging with children and teens online." The company could begin to do so, they said, by abandoning its plans to launch an Instagram app directly targeting children. BuzzFeed News revealed in March that Facebook was planning to build a version of Instagram intended for children under the age of 13.
Lawmakers Ask Zuck to Drop 'Instagram for Kids' Since App Made Kids Suicidal



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