Zuckerberg’s Meta company accused of putting younger users at risk

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta company, which owns Facebook and Instagram, has been accused by the Federal Trade Commission (a top US data privacy regulator) of not putting proper parental controls in place, several media reported.

Meta accused of not setting proper parental controls

A proposed ban on monetizing with children’s data

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said in a statement that Meta should be banned from making money from children’s data, proposing a series of actions to tackle the problem.

Propositions to tackle the problem

The FTC’s propositions include: a blanket prohibition against monetizing data of users under 18 years-old, pausing the launch of new products and limiting future uses of facial recognition technology directed at younger users.

Meta’s response

In response, Meta’s spokesperson, Andy Stone, said the move was a “political stunt” and added that Meta was being singled out “while allowing Chinese companies, like TikTok, to operate without constraint on American soil”.

Instagram impact on youth mental health

But this isn’t the first time the company has been in the spotlight for putting it’s young users at risk. In fact, it’s been proven that they are aware of the negative effects social media has for kids and teens, particularly Instagram, where more than 40% of users are 22 years old and younger.

Internal documents revealed its harmful impact

Facebook’s researchers have repeatedly found that Instagram is toxic to a large percentage of them, particularly teenage girls, according to internal documents that were obtained by The Wall Street Journal.

Body image made worse for 1 in 3 girls

“We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls,” said one slide from a 2019 presentation that was posted to the company’s internal message board and viewed by the WSJ.

Teens blame Instagram for anxiety increase

“Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression,” said another slide seen by the WSJ.

Depression traced back to Instagram

Among teens who reported thinking about taking their own lives, 13% of British users and 6% of American users traced that desire to Instagram, showed the presentation.

The company hasn’t addressed the issue

The Instagram documents are part of a trove of internal Facebook communications reviewed by the WSJ, that show that Facebook has not addressed these issues and actually minimises them to the public.

Zuckerberg assured IG can have mental health benefits

“The research that we’ve seen is that using social apps to connect with other people can have positive mental-health benefits,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg told a congressional hearing in March, when lawmakers probed him about children and mental health.

Minimizing the effects of IG in mental health

Then in May 2022, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri (pictured) said that research suggests the app’s effects on teen mental health are “quite small”.

Expanding its base of young users

For Facebook, which paid $1bn for Instagram in 2012, expanding its base of young users has been crucial in recent years as fewer and fewer young users turn to Facebook for their social media needs, show the materials seen by the WSJ.

How the research was conducted

The dive into Instagram’s impact is made up of focus groups, diary studies and surveys of tens of thousands of people.

Specific Instagram impact

In five presentations over 18 months, researchers found that some of the problems were specific to Instagram, and not social media in general, according to the WSJ.

Social comparison

“Social comparison is worse on Instagram,” states Facebook’s research, referring to the tendency of users to compare themselves to others posting on the site.

Body image and lifestyle

While other apps such as TikTok, a short-video app, are grounded in performance, Instagram focuses on the body and lifestyle.

Eating disorders and depression

The pressure to look perfect and have an ideal way of life could send teens spiralling towards eating disorders and depression, internal research found.

Zuckerberg was aware of these findings since 2020

Facebook’s findings were reviewed by the company’s executives and mentioned to Zuckerberg in 2020, according to the documents seen by the WSJ.