Facebook halts Instagram for kids

Akiko Fujita joins the Yahoo Finance panel to discuss Facebook's halt in building an Instagram for kids after receiving backlash from users and lawmakers over the proposed idea and the company's confirmation of social media's adverse effects on youth.

Video Transcript

BRIAN CHEUNG: Let's shift over to Facebook. The company announcing that it will pause development on its Instagram for Kids project. This is coming from the Instagram heads interview on the Today Show this morning. So for more on that, let's bring in Yahoo Finance's Akiko Fujita, who's been following this story, and Akiko, this is coming after that Wall Street Journal report not so long ago that appeared to show the company acknowledging its role in really exacerbating body image issues among teen girls. Which raises the question, I mean, were the optics of this ever good in Instagram for Kids?

AKIKO FUJITA: Well, let's start with the news of the day, Brian, because Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, did put out a pretty detailed blog post this morning saying essentially, they're just taking these steps today because, in his words, we can get it right. And here's specifically what he said in that post. "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 on the project for younger teens online today".

Now, Brian, you mentioned Instagram Kids, this was initially intended to create a kid-friendly version of the app for those who are 13 years and younger. And Mosseri says, the app set out to develop these parental tools so parents would be able to control the experience their kids had on the app. But just as immediately as they announced that, they did face some pretty significant backlash here, saying that this was a bad idea, it would likely lead to more screen time, and also affect the mental being of kids. Now, specifically, on that Wall Street Journal report you just mentioned, that seemed to only reconfirm some of those concerns that were already out there, specifically the Journal found that Facebook's own internal research showed Instagram had a profound impact on body image issues in teenage girls. In those documents, it said one in three teen girls felt worse about their bodies after scrolling through the site.

And that directly contradicts what Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerburg, said publicly in congressional testimony earlier this year, saying, he-- his research showed that social apps had a positive mental health benefit on teens. So Facebook's head of research, over the weekend, did put out a pretty detailed rebuttal of the Journal story, adding that same girls who struggle with body image also said that 22% said that using Instagram made them feel better about their body image issues. So there's a lot to get through to here in terms of these internal documents that were leaked to the Journal. That investigation, or that report, was dubbed The Facebook Files has now prompted a congressional hearing. This Thursday, the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection is going to be holding a hearing. Mosseri has said that kids are already online, they're already on the app. It's better to develop a kid-friendly version so parents have more control.

BRIAN CHEUNG: All right, well, we'll definitely be watching for that hearing later this week. Yahoo Finance's Akiko Fujita, thank you so much for that.