Facebook paralyzes the creation of Instagram Kids
After the strong criticism by the publication of a study on the impact of the social network on adolescents the company decided to put the project back
Facebook reported that the development of Instagram Kids, an Instagram application aimed at children under 13 years of age, was paralyzed after The Wall Street Journal published information “on the psychological impact of this platform on adolescents.” However, they stressed that the company “does not give up on the project.”
The highest representative of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, said: “We believe that building Instagram Kids is the right thing to do, but we are going to put this work on hold” and will focus on improving parental control tools.
The Wall Street Journal published a series of articles reflecting the results of an investigation carried out by Facebook, which shows “that Instagram is harmful for a part of its youngest users and that it was especially toxic for adolescents, since it aggravates the problems that one in three girls have with their body image.”
For its part, Facebook, owner of Instagram, expressed its disagreement with the publications made, claiming that the results of its research detail both the positive and negative experiences of young people on social networks and the objective of the study was to “improve the application.”
Mosseri insisted that the project was misinterpreted. He explained that Instagram Kids is aimed at children under 13 years of age and parents “have the option of giving their children access to a version of Instagram designed for them, in which they can monitor and control their experience.”
He stressed that currently children receive phones from the first years of life and other social networks are already executing particular projects for a child target, referring to YouTube and TikTok, which already have a version for children under 13 years of age.
M. Rodríguez
Source: d.w.com
