Attorneys general from 44 states and territories urged Facebook to abandon plans to develop Instagram for children below 13 years of age, citing social media adverse health consequences for children, as well as the reportedly re-examined history of children on Facebook’s website.
The letter of Monday follows questions from federal legislators who have shared concern about the effect of social media on children. A key theme was the House Hearing in March with CEO Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, CEO Sundar Pichai of Google, and CEO Jack Dorsey of Twitter.
Republican personnel for that committee subsequently highlighted the idea that online privacy for children should be considered by lawmakers in their legislation.
In March, BuzzFeed News revealed that, based on internally collected documents, Facebook has been investigating the creation of an Instagram service for children.
Protecting children from harm online seems to be one of the few incentives on which both Democrats and Republicans have agreed that any organization that provides an online children’s service would have added strain.
The letter expresses many concerns regarding the proposed platform, including mental health implications, privacy concerns, body image frustration, cyberbullying, and sexual predators.
The bipartisan group of agents cited news stories and study results on the negative effects of social networks and Instagram, in particular, on mental well-being for children, including lower self-esteem and the concept of suicide in their letter to Zuckerberg on Monday.
The Attorneys General also said that young children “are not prepared to deal with the variety of challenges with an Instagram account.”
There are online anonymity, internet access, and navigation, which is suitable to visualize and share. These problems include They noticed that 20 million photos of child sexual exploitation were published by Facebook and Instagram in 2020.
Facebook isn’t the only social media site that has created programs for kids. Google-owned YouTube, for example, has a kids service, but as with any internet service, there are typical ways for children to lie about their age in order to access the main site.
YouTube agreed to a $170 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission and the New York Attorney General in 2019 to resolve charges that it secretly gained money by gathering children’s personal information without parental permission, allegedly violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
“It seems like Facebook does not answer to a need but creates one since it is mainly aimed at children who may not have an Instagram account or otherwise,” reads the letter at the end of the document.
“Briefly, for myriad reasons, the Instagram site is dangerous for young children. The prosecutors general advise Facebook to stop planning to introduce the new website.”
Despite the opinion of the general public, Facebook defended its decision on Monday to build Instagram Kids. “Children are already online, as any parent knows.
In a tweet, a Facebook speaker said that we want to change this situation by giving parents exposure and influence over what their kids are doing.” “In collaboration with children, child protection and mental health experts and advocates for privacy, we create these experiences.”
