Moscow. September 30th. INTERFAX.RU – US Senators exposed Facebook Inc. criticized for disregarding the findings of the study on the impact of the company's social network Instagram on teens, writes The Wall Street Journal.
Senators from both parties have accused the company of ignoring its internal research that Instagram has a negative impact on the mental health of adolescents, who, in particular, “blame Instagram for an increase in anxiety and depression.”
“Facebook is prioritizing profit over children's online safety. We now know the company chooses product development over the well-being of our children,” said Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, who chairs the Consumer Protection Board of the Commerce Committee.
He referred to the company's internal documents, which, he said, contain “findings that are repeated in the comprehensive and large-scale research that Facebook itself has conducted over the past four years.”
The WSJ previously reported that an internal company study found Instagram was harming the mental health of a large number of its multimillion-dollar audience of young users.
Facebook claims the newspaper's report misinterpreted the study's findings. “The study actually shows that many of the teens we get feedback from feel that using Instagram helps them in situations where they face the difficult moments and challenges that teens always have,” reads a post published in the company's blog.
At the same time, the WSJ, in response to Facebook's approval, said that the company did not cite a single factual error in the content of the note and had the opportunity to comment on it before publication.
Facebook this week announced that it is suspending work on a version of Instagram for children under the age of 13.
The company, along with other tech giants, has come to the attention of Congress for over a year due to privacy breaches, content moderation and competition.
