from the modern-internet-considered-harmful dept.
Facebook documents show how toxic Instagram is for teens, Wall Street Journal reports:
The Journal report exacerbated at least one lawmaker's concerns over Facebook's exploration of a children's version of Instagram. Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., has made children's mental health concerns in connection with social media use a key priority and previously rebuked Facebook for considering such a product.
Following the Journal's report, Trahan called for Facebook to "immediately abandon plans for Instagram for Kids" and focus instead on protecting existing young users.
"Facebook's internal documents show that the company's failure to protect children on Instagram – especially young girls – is outright neglect, and it's been going on for years," Trahan said in a statement.
"Facebook has no business developing additional social media platforms explicitly designed for our children[* see below] when they can't be trusted to keep their current house in order."
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has also made children's mental health online a cornerstone of her platform. In a statement Tuesday, she said Facebook "refused to comply" with a request from Republicans on the committee in March asking for its internal research on its products' impact on kids' mental health. [...]
Read the full Wall Street Journal report. [Seems paywalled -- ed.]
[* Maybe the story's changed since submission, or there's some GeoIP trickery going on, but the story I now see is fairly different to the above, and contains this statement: "Facebook is also building a version of Instagram for kids under age 13." which explains the representatives concerns, above.]
Related Stories
Facebook’s latest “apology” reveals security and safety disarray:
Facebook had it rough last week. Leaked documents—many leaked documents—formed the backbone of a string of reports published in The Wall Street Journal. Together, the stories paint the picture of a company barely in control of its own creation. The revelations run the gamut: Facebook had created special rules for VIPs that largely exempted 5.8 million users from moderation, forced troll farm content on 40 percent of America, created toxic conditions for teen girls, ignored cartels and human traffickers, and even undermined CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s own desire to promote vaccination against COVID.
Now, Facebook wants you to know it’s sorry and that it’s trying to do better.
“In the past, we didn’t address safety and security challenges early enough in the product development process,” the company said in an unsigned press release today. “Instead, we made improvements reactively in response to a specific abuse. But we have fundamentally changed that approach.”
Previously:
Facebook Documents Show How Toxic Instagram is for Teens, Wall Street Journal Reports
Leaked Documents Reveal the Special Rules Facebook Uses for 5.8M VIPs
Facebook is a Hub of Sex Trafficking Recruitment in the US, Report Says
Instagram is "Most Invasive App", New Study Shows
The US Surgeon General has published his 2023 advisory on social control media and youth mental health [warning for PDF]. The report's scope is only on the health and mental health effects, not the weaponized nature of the phenomenon. The body of the report is 17 pages long and includes a call to action.
Extreme, inappropriate, and harmful content continues to be easily and widely accessible by children and adolescents. This can be spread through direct pushes, unwanted content exchanges, and algorithmic designs. In certain tragic cases, childhood deaths have been linked to suicide- and self-harm-related content and risk-taking challenges on social media platforms. This content may be especially risky for children and adolescents who are already experiencing mental health difficulties. Despite social media providing a sense of community for some, a systematic review of more than two dozen studies found that some social media platforms show live depictions of self-harm acts like partial asphyxiation, leading to seizures, and cutting, leading to significant bleeding. Further, these studies found that discussing or showing this content can normalize such behaviors, including through the formation of suicide pacts and posting of self-harm models for others to follow.
Social media may also perpetuate body dissatisfaction, disordered eating behaviors, social comparison, and low self-esteem, especially among adolescent girls. A synthesis of 20 studies demonstrated a significant relationship between social media use and body image concerns and eating disorders, with social comparison as a potential contributing factor. Social comparison driven by social media is associated with body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and depressive symptoms. When asked about the impact of social media on their body image, nearly half (46%) of adolescents aged 13–17 said social media makes them feel worse, 40% said it makes them feel neither better nor worse, and only 14% said it makes them feel better.
Previously:
(2023) Seattle's Schools are Suing Tech Giants for Harming Young People's Mental Health
(2022) Leaked Documents Reveal Instagram Was Pushing Girls Towards Content That Harmed Mental Health
(2022) Social Media Break Improves Mental Health
(2021) Facebook Documents Show How Toxic Instagram is for Teens, Wall Street Journal Reports
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Mockingbird on Saturday September 18 2021, @08:12AM (4 children)
FatPhil, on instagram? This is something no one wants to see!
Now, Dave Barry in a dad's rock band? Now that would be worth seeing! But not FatPhil. Drunk too often.
Also, Wall Street Journal is now owned by Murdock, only slightly more respectable than Faux News, because the old paint has not all sloughed off yet.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by FatPhil on Saturday September 18 2021, @12:03PM (3 children)
Cue denials from multiple accounts in 3, 2, 1, ...
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 18 2021, @08:17PM (2 children)
Drunk again already, FatPhil? And posting to Soylentgram? Everyone knows who you are, and it is not body-shaming, only concern for your health.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by FatPhil on Sunday September 19 2021, @10:18AM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @01:42AM
Or, FatPhil has been damaged by Instagram, and the only way he can try to recover his self esteem is by accusing others of sockpuppetry, and being gross.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Saturday September 18 2021, @08:33AM (2 children)
McD has been advertising junk food to kids for decades. They know full well exposing children to sugary / fatty foods from a very young age turns then into lifelong addicts that keep coming back for more, and they've been deliberately Happy Mealing this nation into obesity with zero regards for the long-term health consequences.
The tobacco industry was slammed over targeting children and young teens. Facebook seems to have their day in court coming. It's mind-boggling that the fast-food industry is still allowed to conduct business unchecked, considering the damage they've been doing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 18 2021, @06:11PM (1 child)
Unchecked? Last time I passed a McDonalds, I "checked" it myself without any government involvement whatsoever.
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Monday September 20 2021, @12:40AM
Well done you! I guess all we need to have is a little self-control and we won't need any of these pesky consumer protection laws!
I'll let the Sacklers know - they can start spinning up the Oxycontin factories again.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 18 2021, @08:40AM (5 children)
Facebook and everything it touches is toxic. So, what's new here?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 18 2021, @09:32AM (1 child)
We've got 40-year-olds who can't make anything more complicated than nuking some pizza pockets.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 18 2021, @06:13PM
I think we are seeing evolution in action, my friend. The pizza-nukers are expanding to fill every niche in the couch.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 18 2021, @07:22PM
Which came first: The Psychopath wanting to become a Billionaire from exploiting unsupervised Humans (of all ages), or the Humans needing constant supervision...
Wouldn't it have been for the better if those chain-emails back in 1994 about Congress making the Internet needing a licence to use had actually been truthful...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 18 2021, @11:50PM (1 child)
Facebook has decided to call all the other pots black.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 20 2021, @08:26AM
facebook own instagram
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by darkfeline on Saturday September 18 2021, @08:57AM (2 children)
Stories and articles getting edited is par for the course nowadays. It accompanies the sinking of journalistic quality and integrity.
The Ministry of Truth is now.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Spamalope on Saturday September 18 2021, @03:16PM (1 child)
Interesting. I wonder if someone with 7 figure investments in faceplace had insider power over CNBC?
(Score: 2) by SunTzuWarmaster on Monday September 20 2021, @11:56AM
I think its simpler than that - many people nowadays seem simply lack a spine. They talk a tough talk, but immediately fold upon a challenge. So you end up with a situation like:
Publisher: "Facebook stands accused of neglect and their internal documents reveal that they know it. They are, in fact, the devil."
Facebook Social Media Outreach Team: "Publisher, I cannot help but notice that you have published derogatory content regarding Facebook, please remove the follow subsections or you will face legal action [subsections]."
Publisher: "Having no spine, I lack the will to stand by my words. I will do whatever you wish posthaste."
The combination of twitter mobs, legal action, social media commentary, etc. all basically create a mob. Few seem to stand up to it. When someone does (JBP), it becomes international news.
(Score: 4, Informative) by looorg on Saturday September 18 2021, @11:15AM (3 children)
Plenty of articles that link to the WSJ or connect to it that are not (yet) paywalled.
Archive of the WSJ article without the paywall
https://archive.is/egPlc [archive.is]
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/18/facebook-instagram-zuckerberg-teenagers [theguardian.com]
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/14/facebook-documents-show-how-toxic-instagram-is-for-teens-wsj.html [cnbc.com]
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday September 18 2021, @07:19PM (2 children)
I also recommend that people stop referring to paywalled sources (heh, especially Murdoch's), it is something to be circumvented, not encouraged
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Insightful) by looorg on Saturday September 18 2021, @08:24PM (1 child)
The problem is that sometimes you dont know. Things start out "free" and a few hours/clicks/whatever they go behind the paywall. I guess one could always try to go for an archive early post link.
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Sunday September 19 2021, @04:53AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 19 2021, @06:19AM
Teens harm teens.