Following backlash from parents and child safety experts, Instagram has halted plans to build a child-friendly version of the social media app.
According to Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, the company would progress its plans to build an alternative app for young people, but would cease to do so to ‘give us time to work with parents, experts, policymakers, and regulators’. Recently, Instagram has been under increased pressure after the Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook conducted extensive research on Instagram’s ‘significant’ impact on teenage girls’ mental health and perception of body image but downplayed its significance in public. Mosseri said the articles ‘raised a lot of questions for people’ and that he did not agree with the way the newspaper covered Instagram’s research.
‘We do research like this so we can make Instagram better,’ he said. ‘That means our insights often shed light on problems, but they inspire new ideas and changes to Instagram.’ ‘I have three children and their safety is the most important thing in my life. I hear the concerns with this project, and we’re announcing these steps today so we can get it right.’
Instagram confirmed in March it was working on a child-centric version of the platform that would be managed by parents, fueling fears it would expose children to harmful content or grooming from internet predators.
Civil rights group, Amnesty International also warned that Facebook would harvest children’s information and profit from their detailed profiles. Ian Russell, whose 14-year-old daughter Molly committed suicide after viewing suicide and self-harm content on Instagram, said it was ‘very hard to see how [Instagram] could guarantee a platform to be safe enough for under-13s to use.’
Mosseri added that while critics of the project, which has become known as ‘Instagram Kids,’ would see the pausing as ‘an acknowledgment that the project is a bad idea, that is not the case’. ‘The reality is that kids are already online, and we believe that developing age-appropriate experiences designed specifically for them is far better for parents than where we are today,’ he continued.
We’re pausing “Instagram Kids.” This was a tough decision. I still think building this experience is the right thing to do, but we want to take more time to speak with parents and experts working out how to get this right. pic.twitter.com/gMbPjft0CW
— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) September 27, 2021
‘Our intention is not for this version to be the same as Instagram today. It was never meant for younger kids, but for tweens (aged 10-12). It will require parental permission to join, it won’t have ads, and it will have age-appropriate content and features. Parents can supervise the time their children spend on the app and oversee who can message them, who can follow them and who they can follow.’
Instagram said last week it would explore encouraging its users to look at other topics if they’re dwelling on content ‘that could contribute to negative social comparisons’ and to take a break and pause their accounts when needed.
According to NSPCC policy manager Phillip Satherley, Mr Mosseri’s announcement shouldn’t be considered surprising given the Wall Street Journal’s reports. ‘Our data consistently shows there are more grooming offences on Instagram than any other site. First and foremost Instagram and other Facebook-owned platforms should be focussing their efforts on fixing the harm already on their sites,’ he said. ‘It is time for an approach that allows children and families to formally voice their safety concerns. To achieve this we must see provisions in the Online Safety Bill place to fund user advocacy for children to protect them from potentially dangerous new apps and features.’
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