‘Instagram Kids’ Receive Backlash from Lawmakers, Development ‘Paused’

Facebook announced Monday that it is “pausing” its plans on developing the controversial “Instagram Kids”, a platform geared for kids under the age of 13.

The planned project has received backlash from lawmakers and sparked concerns from child safety advocates. This modified version of Instagram would have allowed children around the age of 10-12 to have access to the app with this kind of version. Users under age 13 are barred from the app however, one can simply lie about their age when signing up for an account.

This development for the app was announced in March by Facebook, saying that it should be time to be “exploring a parent-controlled experience.” The project was pushed back in May when 44 attorneys generals from a bipartisan group wrote a letter and urged Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to abandon the project to cite the well-being of children. Child safety advocates also warned the company that this would put young children at risk.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri said, “While we stand by the need to develop this experience, we’ve decided to pause this project. 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.” in the company blog post.

Mosseri also added that acknowledging how bad the idea of the project is was not the reason for the pause. Instead, he admitted that it might still take them more time to work on the project. It could also take a long time before critics are finally be convinced.

Concerns regarding this development escalated when an investigation by The Wall Street Journal claimed that Facebook is aware of how “toxic” Instagram is for teen girls. Attorneys who are against the project have suspected that Facebook is not responding to the need of putting children’s safety first on the Internet but is simply creating one.