Instagram for kids: what could possibly go wrong?

Instagram for kids: What could possibly go wrong?

Lesson summary

Hi there everyone, I’m Jeff and this is Plain English, where we help you upgrade your English with current events and trending topics. JR is the producer, and he has uploaded this lesson, number 409, to PlainEnglish.com/409.

In today’s lesson, we’re talking about Facebook’s internal initiative to develop a version of Instagram just for kids under 13. Remember that Facebook owns Instagram. Well, the kids version of Instagram is on ice for now. (“On ice” means, it’s been paused.) That’s the topic of today’s lesson. The English expression we’ll review today is “geared toward.” And JR has a song of the week. Let’s get going.

Instagram for kids is on ice

The Wall Street Journal is one of the most influential publications in the U.S. Last month, the Journal published a series of articles based on internal Facebook documents leaked by a whistleblower.

There were several findings in the Journal’s articles. First, the leaked documents showed that the company maintained an internal program called XCheck allowing celebrities and other high-profile people to circumvent the rules about content. These VIPs are allowed to post content that would otherwise be banned if it were posted by you or me.

Next, the investigation found that Facebook was aware that its platform was being used for illegal activity. We’re talking drug cartels, human trafficking groups, and targeted violence against ethnic minorities. Facebook was slow to remove the offending accounts and in some cases, it took no action at all.

But one key finding stood out above all others: internal research showed that Instagram was toxic for the mental health of teenage girls. The internal documents stated that “thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse.” In focus groups, teenage girls said that Instagram increased their rates of anxiety and depression. Among teens in the UK that had suicidal thoughts, 13 percent said those thoughts originated with Instagram.

The leaked research showed that for some teenagers, the following feelings started on Instagram. Ready? They’re ranked, with the most popular feeling at the top. Number one, the feeling that they “have to create the perfect image.” Second, that they’re “not attractive.” Third, that they don’t have enough money; fourth, they don’t have enough friends; fifth, they’re not good enough; sixth, their friends aren’t really their friends. They’re alone, lonely, can’t be honest, want to hurt themselves: all these feelings start on Instagram, according to the company’s own research.

In focus groups, teenagers said they knew that time on Instagram was bad for their mental health, but they couldn’t stop using the app “for fear of missing out on social or cultural trends.” How does Instagram hurt teens’ mental health? We don’t have to speculate. They say so in their own words. There’s “pressure to conform to social stereotypes;” pressure to have as much money as influencers, and the same bodies as influencers; pressure to get likes and followers; conflicts with friends, including bullying and hate speech; inappropriate advertisement; and the over-sexualization of girls.

While the company conducted this research internally, it presented a much different perspective to the outside world. The head of Instagram said the company’s research showed the effect on teens’ well-being was “quite small.” Mark Zuckerberg was no doubt choosing his words carefully when he told a congressional committee that Facebook’s research showed “using social apps to connect with other people can have positive mental health benefits.”

So, you can imagine the public reaction to an idea called “Instagram Kids.” Right now, privacy laws in the U.S. prevent companies from collecting data on children under 13 years old. Many social apps, therefore, have different versions for young children. However, kids don’t want to use the kids’ version: they often lie about their ages to get the full version. But at the same time, they think that Instagram and Facebook are uncool because they’re specifically adult apps.

Facebook knows that to continue growing, it needs to be the app of choice among kids when they get their first phones. So, Facebook wanted to create an app that would be geared toward the youngest kids; the idea is that they could get them into the Facebook ecosystem early and prevent them from getting hooked on Snapchat and TikTok, which are currently more popular among pre-teens.

The Wall Street Journal articles seem to have put a stop to all that. Facebook said afterward that its plans for Instagram Kids were on pause. The company said it would instead focus more time on enhancing teen safety and parental supervision in its existing apps.

In response to the articles, a US Senate committee called a hearing on the topic. Senators were not pleased with the idea of Instagram Kids. One Senator said his office even created an account pretending to be a thirteen-year-old girl. They followed accounts associated with dieting, and within a day they were inundated with accounts promoting self-harm and promoting eating disorders.

Two Senators are now re-introducing a law that would strengthen protections and prohibit some features for kids under sixteen. Other committees might revisit the argument that Facebook is a monopoly and should be broken up. But the most damaging comments from the hearing came in the form of a simple comparison. Several Senators compared Facebook’s current situation to that of tobacco companies decades ago. They say that Facebook knows its product is harmful but is aggressively pushing it on younger and younger users to get them hooked early and for life.

It’s not a perfect analogy, but it doesn’t have to be. The fact that Facebook is being compared to a cigarette maker is enough to confirm that Facebook is in real trouble. Facebook sent a relatively low-level executive to be interviewed by the Senate committee. She didn’t make much news during the hearing.

There are a few points in Facebook’s favor that I should mention. First, kids lie about their ages to get on the adult version of Instagram. Facebook argues that a kids’ version would steer young users toward a version that has greater protections in place and parental supervision. Surely, that would be safer than having under-13’s on the main app.

Second, they defend doing and having the research regarding the effects on teens. They say that doing the research is necessary to make improvements to the platform. They also say they’re exploring several alternative options. One idea is to “nudge” people toward uplifting or positive content if they seem to be going down a negative path or spiraling out of control. Another idea is to prompt people to take a break from social media after too much use or time.

Outages and more hearings

A few weeks after the articles were published, the person behind the leaks revealed herself in a television interview. She had been part of the “civic engagement” team that was in charge of monitoring and managing content around the 2020 election. Her team was disbanded and she thought Facebook was putting its priorities in the wrong place. She said Facebook was misleading the public and gave a financial regulator documents that she says proves it.

The next day, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram all suffered an outage for most of a business day in the Americas and the evening in Europe. It was the longest outage in a while and one of the longest for a large internet company. Some people thought it was a hack, but it appears it was a technical error. The apps were back up after going dark for about six hours. We’ll talk more about that on Monday’s lesson.