Aussie teens dump Facebook, Instagram, leaked internal research reveals

Instagram has seen a dramatic slump in use by young Australians, internal documents reveal.

Mark Zuckerberg has touted his company’s shift to the ‘metaverse’. Picture: Bloomberg

Facebook’s Instagram platform has seen a dramatic slump in use by young Australians, ­according to confidential internal documents.

Prepared for Facebook executives, the research dated March 2021 warns of “concerning” and “problematic” declines in the amount of time teenage users in Australia are spending on the photo-sharing platform — down 9 per cent to 36 minutes a day over six months — and how much content they are producing.

The research, part of a tranche of documents lodged with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, shows the fall in use was greater in Australia than in other markets including the US, France, Britain and Japan.

The research warns of ‘concerning’ and ‘problematic’ declines in the amount of time teenage users in Australia are spending on Facebook’s Instagram platform.

The amount of content being produced by teenage users in Australia also fell 7 per cent, the data reveals.

The disclosure of falling Instagram consumption follows the release of internal research, first published in The Wall Street Journal in September, that concluded the platform exacerbated feelings of anxiety, depression and body image issues for teenage girls. “We make body image ­issues worse for one in three teen girls,” one slide from a 2019 presentation read.

The fall in the use of Instagram in Australia and in other major markets comes as Facebook ­grapples with serious problems in attracting and retaining young users on its other platforms.

Users under-18 are signing up to the Facebook app at a slower rate than before, the research shows, with Facebook perceived as being a “place for people in their 40s or 50s” by teens and a “large, older, and outdated network.”

“Young adults struggle to identify the primary value proposition for Facebook,” researchers said in an internal slide deck dated May 2021 seen by The ­Australian. “Young adults want uplifting and motivating content, yet see Facebook content as negative, fake and boring.”

The research found young adults think Facebook contains too much fake or misleading content, too many ads and too much negative content. It found that young people prefer to use SMS or iMessage for connecting with friends and family, and Zoom for making video calls.

 

The presentation is one of hundreds of documents collected by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, who served in the ­social media giant’s civic integrity team before she went public with allegations in October that the company has been prioritising profits and growth over its users’ mental health and safety.

The documents were disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission and provided to congress in redacted form by Ms Haugen’s legal counsel. The redacted versions received by congress were reviewed by a consortium of news organisations, including The Australian.

“Our products are still widely used by teens but we face tough competition from the likes of Snapchat and TikTok,” a spokesman for Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta told The Australian.

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. Picture: AFP

“All social media companies want teens to use their services. We are no different. That’s why we’re continuing to build new products and features that are entertaining and help teens, their friends and family stay connected to each other.”

Facebook’s decline in popularity among young people would threaten its digital advertising business, with the company responsible for an estimated 23.7 per cent of the total global digital ad market.

Ms Haugen told Australian politicians in a briefing in November that greater transparency was needed to tackle the threats the platform posed to children.

“Stop trusting Facebook,” Ms Haugen told parliamentarians over Zoom. “The question of democracies being endangered is a real, real question.

“There is no way that Facebook can act in a safe way globally, without sharing data. There’s no way smaller countries are going to be able to kept safe, unless they can access their data.”

The social media giant is grappling with controversies on multiple fronts alongside rising competition from the likes of TikTok. The company is also facing new regulations globally, including in Australia, where legislation was released in October to force digital entities to comply with privacy requirements and age verification checks.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg told investors in October he was “retooling” the company towards its users in their teens and early 20s, and young people would become its “North Star”. He said the shift “will take years, not months”.

Facebook also in October announced a company-wide rebrand to Meta in a further bid to put its past behind it.

“Right now, our brand is so tightly linked to one product that it can’t possibly represent everything we’re doing today, let alone in the future.

“Over time, I hope we are seen as a metaverse company, and I want to anchor our work and our identity on what we’re building towards,” Mr Zuckerberg said.