{"id":834152,"date":"2021-10-01T05:58:48","date_gmt":"2021-10-01T09:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=834152"},"modified":"2021-10-01T08:49:17","modified_gmt":"2021-10-01T12:49:17","slug":"lawmakers-grill-facebook-over-leaked-internal-research-on-instagrams-harmful-impact-on-teens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawmakers-grill-facebook-over-leaked-internal-research-on-instagrams-harmful-impact-on-teens\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers Grill Facebook Over Leaked Internal Research on Instagram\u2019s Harmful Impact on Teens"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flawmakers-grill-facebook-over-leaked-internal-research-on-instagrams-harmful-impact-on-teens%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=834152&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-facebook\">Facebook<\/a> was heavily criticized by members of Congress on Thursday during a hearing examining how the social network giant handled <a href=\"https:\/\/s.wsj.net\/public\/resources\/documents\/teen-girls-body-image-and-social-comparison-on-instagram.pdf\">internal research<\/a> relating to\u00a0its Instagram platform and how it can be harmful to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-mental-health\">mental health<\/a> of teenagers.<\/p>\n<p>Antigone Davis, Facebook\u2019s global head of safety, was grilled for over three hours by lawmakers who accused Facebook\u2014which owns Instagram\u2014of concealing its findings showing that the\u00a0Instagram app is harmful to significant numbers of teenage girls.<\/p>\n<p>The hearing was convened by\u00a0the\u00a0Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security after\u00a0internal documents regarding Facebook\u2019s findings were disclosed to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/facebook-knows-instagram-is-toxic-for-teen-girls-company-documents-show-11631620739?mod=article_inline\">Wall Street Journal<\/a> by a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-whistleblower\">whistleblower<\/a> at the company.<\/p>\n<p>The documents showed that Facebook found that\u00a0Instagram makes body image issues worse for a substantial number of teen girls and is blamed by teens for increases in anxiety and depression. In some cases, the app led to\u00a0body-image problems such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-eating-disorders\">eating disorders<\/a>, as well as\u00a0suicidal thoughts, the research showed.<\/p>\n<p>During Thursday\u2019s hearing, lawmakers scrutinized Facebook for its lack of transparency, accusing it of covering up the data and demanding it make changes, even drawing comparisons to the\u00a0tobacco industry\u2019s coverups of cigarettes\u2019 harmful effects.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re here today because Facebook has shown us once again that it is incapable of holding itself accountable,\u201d Committee Chair Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in his opening remarks. \u201cThis month, a whistleblower approached my office to provide information about Facebook and Instagram. Thanks to documents provided by that whistleblower, as well as extensive public reporting by The Wall Street Journal and others, we now have deep insight into Facebook\u2019s relentless campaign to recruit and exploit young users.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe now know that Facebook routinely puts profits ahead of kids\u2019 online safety,\u201d he added. \u201cWe know it chooses the growth of its products over the well-being of our children, and we now know that it is in defensively delinquent in acting to protect them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Davis denied\u00a0Blumenthal\u2019s claims while defending Instagram\u2019s efforts to protect young people using its platform and condemning the way the research had been shown in news outlets.<\/p>\n<p>She also\u00a0acknowledged that questions have been raised about the company\u2019s internal research, noting that it\u00a0was\u00a0conducted to \u201cbetter understand young people\u2019s experiences on Instagram.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe strongly disagree with how this reporting characterized our work, so we want to be clear about what that research shows, and what it does not show,\u201d\u00a0Davis stated in written testimony.\u00a0\u201cWe undertook this work to inform internal conversations about teens\u2019 most negative perceptions of Instagram,\u201d she added. \u201cIt did not measure causal relationships between Instagram and real-world issues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe care deeply about the safety and security of the people on our platform,\u201d Davis said. \u201cWe take the issue very seriously. \u2026 We have put in place multiple protections to create safe and age-appropriate experiences for people between the ages of 13 and 17.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Amid growing scrutiny, Instagram has\u00a0paused its plans to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/facebook-pauses-plans-for-instagram-for-children_4018530.html\">create an Instagram product<\/a> for children under 13 after some\u00a044 state attorneys general from both major parties urged it to scrap the plans, noting the latest internal findings regarding Instagram\u2019s impact on teenagers\u2019 mental health.<\/p>\n<p>Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, wrote in <a href=\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/news\/2021\/09\/pausing-instagram-kids-building-parental-supervision-tools\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a Sept. 27 blog post<\/a>\u00a0that the company still believes building the version for children \u201cis the right thing to do,\u201d but it\u2019s \u201cpausing the work\u201d to consult with parents, experts, and policymakers.<\/p>\n<p>The pause \u201cwill give us time to work with parents, experts, policymakers and regulators, to listen to their concerns, and to demonstrate the value and importance of this project for younger teens online today,\u201d Mosseri wrote.<\/p>\n<p><em>Zachary Stieber and\u00a0The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ttl7dayERL_WEB_KatabellaRoberts.jpg\" alt=\"Katabella Roberts\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"names\">\n<p>Katabella Roberts<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Katabella Roberts is a reporter currently based in Turkey. She covers news and business for The Epoch Times, focusing primarily on the United States.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Facebook was heavily criticized by members of Congress on Thursday during a hearing examining how the social network giant handled internal research relating to\u00a0its Instagram platform and how it can &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-834152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}