Instagram delays kids' version after criticism

Facebook is delaying its Instagram for children project amid criticism

Facebook is delaying its Instagram for children project amid criticism

Facebook announced Monday it was pausing development of the children's version of its Instagram photo-sharing app, after widespread criticism and building worries the platform could damage young people's mental health.

The decision to hold the iteration for children under 13 comes as Facebook grapples with fallout from a withering Wall Street Journal series revealing the social media giant's own research showed it knew of the harm Instagram can do to teenage girls' well-being. 

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said that the project aimed at children, which would have created a parentally-supervised version of the app for youngsters, had been misunderstood.

"But we want to take the time to talk to parents and researchers and safety experts and get to more consensus on how to move forward," he added.

Widely referred to by the unofficial name "Instagram Kids", the initiative has attracted criticism from various groups since reports of its development emerged earlier this year. 

- 'Toxic effects on young people' -

"A 'pause' is insufficient. Facebook must completely abandon this project," Senator Ed Markey tweeted.

"This hearing will examine the toxic effects of Facebook and Instagram on young people and others, and... will ask tough questions about whether Big Tech companies are knowingly harming people and concealing that knowledge," Blumenthal wrote in a statement last week.

Child advocacy groups also welcomed the news and criticized the risks for children associated with Instagram.

Facebook has hit back at the Wall Street Journal's characterization of the internal research, stressing that the studies detailed both positive and negative experiences of social media by young people. 

"Preteens probably shouldn't have phones, but parents give them anyway... Young teens shouldn't be on social media, but parents allow," Stamos tweeted.

...