Facebook shelves plans for Instagram for Kids

Move comes after Facebook accused of ignoring its own research into harm to children's wellbeing caused by Instagram

Facebook has announced that it's pausing plans for a special version of Instagram aimed at children aged 10 to 12.

The move comes after a Wall Street Journal article accused Facebook of ignoring and covering up evidence of the harm done to teenagers, particularly girls, by Instagram.

The article reported that an internal Facebook presentation noted that among teenage social media users who reported suicidal thoughts, 13 percent of British users and 6 per cent of American users traced the issue to Instagram.

Another presentation from 2019 said, "We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls," while a later slide deck added: "Thirty-two per cent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse".

Facebook described the allegations in the article as "deliberate mischaracterisations" that "conferred egregiously false motives to Facebook's leadership and employees".

However, the article brought increased scrutiny on the dark side of social media at a time when Facebook is facing criticism from many angles. The issue caught the attention of US politicians from both sides of the political divide, who were already critical of Facebook for a variety of other factors, some of whom called on the company directly to abandon Instagram for Kids.

Bowing to pressure, on Monday Facebook said in a statement that it would ‘re-valuate' the project:

"While we believe building ‘Instagram Kids' is the right thing to do, Instagram, and its parent company Facebook, will re-evaluate the project at a later date. In the interim Instagram will continue to focus on teen safety and expanding parental supervision features for teens."

Children under the age of 13 are not supposed to use Instagram, although many do by lying about their age. The planned new product, known informally as Instagram for Kids, would be aimed at children of 10 to 12 years old, with the prospect of parents having some control over their usage.

However, a similar Facebook product, Messenger Kids, was found to be open to abuse by strangers who were able to enter chatrooms.

Facebook said the app would not carry adverts, in direct opposition to its usual business model, but of course it would collect data about users and their relationships which could be used to target them as the children progress to the firm's ad-driven products.

After the fanfare of its initial announcement earlier this year, the company has steadily rowed back on its plans for Instagram for Kids, as many people, including parents and lawmakers, lined up to take potshots.

In April, advocacy group Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood wrote to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, saying Instagram for Kids would create "challenges to adolescents' privacy and wellbeing".

Welcoming Facebook's announcement that it would be delaying the development of Instagram for Kids, US Representative Lori Trahan and Senator Richard Blumenthal said in a statement it should go further and ditch the project for good.

"We are pleased that Facebook has heeded our calls to stop ploughing ahead with its plans to launch a version of Instagram for children. A ‘pause' is insufficient, however.

"Facebook has completely forfeited the benefit of the doubt when it comes to protecting young people online and it must completely abandon this project."