Instagram to pause ‘Kids’ platform amid mental health concerns

Instagram will pause its ‘Kids’ development amid concerns the social media company has downplayed its negative impact on the mental health of younger users.

Instagram parent company Facebook is suspending development of a version of its photo-sharing app for children aged under 13, after widespread criticism of the plan. Picture: AFP

Instagram will pause its “Kids” development amid concerns the social media company and its owner — Facebook — have downplayed the negative impact of the platform on the mental health of younger users.

Instagram chief executive Adam Mosseri said he still believed in the project, but that it would need more time to be perfected.

“We firmly believe that it’s better for parents to have the option to give their children access to a version of Instagram that is designed for them — where parents can supervise and control their experience — than relying on an app’s ability to verify the age of kids who are too young to have an ID,” he said in a statement.

The platform’s shutdown follows the publication of internal documents that showed Facebook had known about the harmful effects of its Instagram platform on the mental health of teenage girls for at least two years. Despite this, the company downplayed these issues.

The documents, first published by The Wall Street Journal, revealed senior executives of the company had been presented with studies that found Instagram exacerbated feelings of anxiety, depression and body-image issues.

One slide from a presentation in 2019 concluded: “We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls.”

Mr Mosseri said he did not agree with the way it was reported, but admitted it had “raised a lot of questions for people”.

He said the company would work on expanding parental controls and make it more suitable for children. The decision to shut the platform down was not an acknowledgment that the project was a bad idea, Mr Mosseri said.

“This will give us time to work with parents, experts, policymakers and regulators, to listen to their concerns, and to demonstrate the value and importance of this project for younger teens online today,” he said.

“The reality is that kids are already online, and we believe that developing age-appropriate experiences designed specifically for them is far better for parents than where we are today,” he said.

Mr Mosseri said the wellbeing of his own children had informed the decision.

“I have three children and their safety is the most important thing in my life.

“I hear the concerns with this project, and we’re announcing these steps today so we can get it right.”