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An article I wrote in 2012 about an app that thought it had appropriate safeguards in place (it wasn’t enough): https://t.co/QCpA4UdC59 https://t.co/89lrunJH5I
— Nicole Perlroth (@nicoleperlroth) September 27, 2021
Shedding light on a graphic in the Journal story. These are age bands used by the Age Appropriate Design Code and other policy experts. 'Where we are going' reflects industry and policymakers' move toward this taxonomy, not FB's product plans, as the note's context makes clear. pic.twitter.com/6NUHE9xsIp
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) September 28, 2021
The kids research (and the VERY longstanding push toward kids products) can definitely be viewed as expansionary. But it's also defensive: rival social media platforms are more attractive to preteens, and FB is worried its next generation of users is being stolen away.
— Jeff Horwitz (@JeffHorwitz) September 28, 2021
Ugly Truths:
— Alex Stamos (@alexstamos) September 27, 2021
1) Preteens probably shouldn’t have phones, but parents give them anyway.
2) Young teens shouldn’t be on social media, but parents allow.
3) Older teens still need guidance and check-ins.
4) If you have younger users, knowing and catering to that might be safer.
This sounds like a total misjudgment of the concept of ‘safety by design’. More ‘parent control features’ won’t change the fact that any version of Insta for u/13s will be a poor experience for tweens or kids because it privileges algorithmic mediation of self-representation. https://t.co/3BR2SKeSbV
— michael dezuanni (@dezuanni) September 27, 2021
Filled with dread whenever I remember that my daughter will one day have to worry about Instagram, YouTube, and social media generally. The only consolation is that at least she’ll see my nice tweets about her. https://t.co/u1mm3VfYlE
— Ames Grawert (@AmesCG) September 27, 2021
I agree these docs need context and the blog post FB did yesterday was helpful in that regard. I’m not arguing that all FB internal docs should be made public, but that the company does have a responsibility to share more about research in the public interest than it has to date
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) September 28, 2021
We built Messenger Kids to create a safer, parent-directed and -managed experience for kids. Of course we wanted to understand how it’s used in real life. Unfortunately, the language we used to describe the research was not well-considered - and doesn't reflect our approach.
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) September 28, 2021
Facebook is heeding our calls to stop plowing ahead with plans to launch a version of Instagram for kids. But a "pause" is insufficient. Facebook must completely abandon this project. https://t.co/CA6ikJHxOH
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) September 27, 2021
Why do we care about tweens?
— ???? ?????????. (@GregBensinger) September 28, 2021
Facebook: "Because they are a valuable but untapped audience"https://t.co/OXP484KtXt
Reversing the declines for the Blue app is not considered even a serious possibility. Addressing falling content production by teens on IG is considered a must.
— Jeff Horwitz (@JeffHorwitz) September 28, 2021
The hope is to keep recruiting young users to IG and then manage to nudge them toward FB's platform later on.
FB's Nick Clegg is speaking right now at Atlantic Live and says the company plans to release the IG research decks cited by the WSJ series later this week. It released one slide last night, but Clegg says they'll make it all public in next few dayshttps://t.co/GWBakRN9DI
— Jaimie Park (@PBandJaimie) September 27, 2021
Following the WSJ reporting about the mental health effects of Instagram on teenagers, Facebook paused “Instagram for Kids.”
— The Real Facebook Oversight Board (@FBoversight) September 27, 2021
They need to cancel the program, completely.https://t.co/JNFppoP7Yp
Beyond an Instagram for kids, Facebook has been trying to develop products that attract younger children for years -- including exploring a Messenger service for kids to use during playdates.
— Meghan Bobrowsky (@MeghanBobrowsky) September 28, 2021
More #FacebookFiles from @georgia_wells & @JeffHorwitz https://t.co/75dKF7sCGe
Even if a company releases all documents/emails/etc on a topic (any topic), doing so lacks the context of the organization, what people thought, and a time horizon of what would/could be done, when. Document dumps do serve to fan flames in search of smoking guns or scandals.
— Steven Sinofsky – stevesi.eth (@stevesi) September 28, 2021
i’m cautiously optimistic? a lot of folks there want to share more. and they feel like the data mostly makes them look good.
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) September 28, 2021
if it doesn’t happen soon, it will happen when Europe passes the Digital Services Act and compels platforms to share data with researchers
We’re pausing “Instagram Kids.” This was a tough decision. I still think building this experience is the right thing to do, but we want to take more time to speak with parents and experts working out how to get this right. pic.twitter.com/gMbPjft0CW
— Adam Mosseri ? (@mosseri) September 27, 2021
This comes after last week's tough questioning of a Facebook executive at a Senate hearing. @Facebook was compared to Big Tobacco by @SenMikeLee. Other lawmakers didn't let up, terming the impact of Instagram on teens as "heinously destructive". https://t.co/VG0kW4GkdQ
— Khushita Vasant (@KhushitaVasant) September 27, 2021
And another Facebook File to add to your filing cabinet of great @WSJ journalism https://t.co/cMLUXCEEkS
— Joanna Stern (@JoannaStern) September 28, 2021
I hope for the same. And of course there are ways to responsibly deal with participants' data and identities (which are already redacted before they're shared internally anyway). But as I said, I think there's little prospect of this happening in any meaningful way.
— Simon Taylor (@swt2102) September 28, 2021
Interesting that Facebook's PR blog shows up in the first Google News panel pic.twitter.com/BFde4CyT6S
— Scott Nover (@ScottNover) September 27, 2021
This will never happen. Maybe in some kind of deeply redacted way, but making all of FB's internal research public would not be prudent for the company on many levels (and as a former FB UXR, I have ethical qualms about my participants' data being shared publicly).
— Simon Taylor (@swt2102) September 28, 2021
my hope is that (1) we can just look at the set of documents that the WSJ has, and that Congress will probably share eventually anyway; and (2) that some of the relevant data gets shared with qualified researchers for independent review. Not that it would all be public.
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) September 28, 2021
Do you think there's any chance it will happen? I can imagine them sharing some limited and perhaps additional data that is going to be shared anyway or helps them with their spin, but not anything else even if it is "the right thing to do" as you wrote
— Ellen K. Pao (@ekp) September 28, 2021
I'd find blog posts like this much more persuasive if they were co-authored by the individual researchers who actually did the analysis. That would be a signal that they are willing to stand behind the comms team's characterization of their work. https://t.co/2sO0UqedDQ
— Samidh (@samidh) September 27, 2021
Wild that it has had to take enormous public pressure to convince Facebook to share research that the company claims exculpates them on all fronts https://t.co/Uf36eLafd4
— Hannah Murphy (@MsHannahMurphy) September 27, 2021
Just published in the #FacebookFiles series: Internal Facebook documents show the company formed a team to study preteens, set a 3-year goal to create more products for them contemplated whether there might be a way to engage children during play dates. https://t.co/zAbAPdSgE5
— Dustin Volz (@dnvolz) September 28, 2021
Facebook's popularity with young users has been declining for nearly a decade, but appears to be entering free-fall -- DAUs for young adults are falling slightly. DAUs for teens are absolutely tanking -- by an expected 45% between 2021 and 2023.
— Jeff Horwitz (@JeffHorwitz) September 28, 2021
Pausing Instagram kids is not enough. They need to abolish the program completely.
— Rep. Ken Buck (@RepKenBuck) September 27, 2021
Facebook knows it is toxic for our kids, they simply don’t care. https://t.co/UVqFiar6TU
None of this is "funny" per se, but it is mildly amusing that the same company whose engineers build, like, brain-computer interfaces is perplexed by questions such as "why do 10 year olds not text each other while they're playing with each other?" https://t.co/Un9XEIQkNT
— Kevin Roose (@kevinroose) September 28, 2021
"Inside the company, teams of employees have for years been laying plans to attract preteens that go beyond what is publicly known, spurred by fear that Facebook could lose a new generation of users critical to its future," reports @WSJ. https://t.co/VGyj0ZDMUd
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) September 28, 2021
“I still firmly believe that it’s a good thing to build a version of Instagram that’s designed to be safe for tweens.” - Adam @Mosseri, head of Instagram pic.twitter.com/y2am8mbPi8
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) September 27, 2021
Oh, but this is just so disgusting https://t.co/RtMRzagYmR
— Brooke Binkowski (@brooklynmarie) September 28, 2021
Can we pressure YouTube to release their research too, please?https://t.co/LQeQaunZya
— evelyn douek (@evelyndouek) September 28, 2021
Beyond Instagram Kids, Facebook has been working on how to attract children to its products. “Why do we care about tweens?” says one document. “They are a valuable but untapped audience.” Latest from @georgia_wells @JeffHorwitz https://t.co/i7sIZzBgZD
— Newley Purnell (@newley) September 28, 2021
“…Facebook investigated how to engage young users in response to competition from Snapchat, TikTok; ‘Exploring playdates as a growth lever’”
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) September 28, 2021
? https://t.co/xojCdHN2xN
You can see they clearly map closely to this from the Information Commissioner's Office in the UK which ICO says offer "key considerations relevant at different ages." https://t.co/au5RNFhv0H
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) September 28, 2021
Kids should not be allowed to be on the Internet. Full stop
— Caroline ✏? (@miamisuki) September 27, 2021
I wasn't given full access to the Internet till I was 13.
You're gonna create children that are obsessed with social media at a young age and that's not good for everyone https://t.co/i9iU4w5IPX
This is disingenuous and classic Facebook.
— Chet Faliszek (@chetfaliszek) September 27, 2021
Get caught.
Lie and deny.
Delay delay delay and then just continue as always. This is their 15 year history.
Since only money matters to Adam, maybe we can do a gofundme for him and he can stop attacking the world’s youth for profit? https://t.co/7hyNXPTbN8
We're sharing these decks with Congress in advance of the hearing this week and we’re evaluating how we can release it to the public at some point.
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) September 26, 2021
How was it helpful? They “cited” three studies and oscillated between using weighted/ modeled data and unmodeled, and weren’t particularly clear on the source of each point
— Cullen (@cullend) September 28, 2021
as my British friends would say to their fellow countryman, “sod off”.
— Jeff Nolan ??? (@jeffnolan) September 28, 2021
Same week they are digging in on “instagram ain’t that bad” they are giving up on Instagram Kids. Some would say the public pressure makes it untenable, I would say they don’t want to live what will happen https://t.co/VAVJB2LZeS
In marketing research from earlier this year, FB staffers fretted that teenage users were perpetuating the "myth" that their under-13 siblings (who aren't supposed to be on the platform at all) should be wary about posting to Instagram.https://t.co/QM83ZyaAks
— Jeff Horwitz (@JeffHorwitz) September 28, 2021
We’re pausing “Instagram Kids”, although we believe building it is the right thing to do. More here: https://t.co/bwCyUn97So
— Adam Mosseri ? (@mosseri) September 27, 2021
I think we all knew intuitively that ‘Instagram for Kids’ was a bad idea. Credit to WSJ reporting for getting it shelved https://t.co/m8sIrQ4mZ2
— Dave Jamieson (@jamieson) September 27, 2021
Instagram for kids. There I built it for you. pic.twitter.com/Hfcgepa9lu
— Dave Girouard (@davegirouard) September 27, 2021
Instagram has paused this but the Teen version of its app seems like it will very much be a thing in the future, despite its own findings that “we make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls.” https://t.co/1XDQxnuTqI
— Clare Malone (@ClareMalone) September 27, 2021
"In one presentation, [Facebook] contemplated whether there might be a way to engage children during play dates."https://t.co/QqFqlK1lOi
— Ryan Mac ? (@RMac18) September 28, 2021
I think Facebook should release all of the Facebook Files to the public and share at least some of the underlying data with researchers. There’s so much in there that is of the public interest. And it’s the right thing to do.https://t.co/bwY9fIlnsj pic.twitter.com/UNbvCIQW0S
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) September 27, 2021
IG's is doing better. Usage among teens remains solid -- consumption is still strong, and major markets are still saturated. But it isn't growing like TikTok -- and "original posting" -- content production -- is falling among teens overall.
— Jeff Horwitz (@JeffHorwitz) September 28, 2021
I’m sorry what pic.twitter.com/gvdIgH4oaf
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) September 28, 2021
@mosseri 9/27:"The reality is that kids are already online...developing age-appropriate experiences designed specifically for them is far better for parents than where we are today."
— Cecilia Kang (@ceciliakang) September 28, 2021
WSJ shows Instagram/FB was afraid of losing young users and needed to onboard youngest
Mark Zuckerberg has known for years that Instagram was harmful to teenaged women. But it a media expose of leaked documents for him to trot out one of his bootlickers to announce plans to roll out Instagram for kids would be halted https://t.co/ydt0xpBs85
— Borzou Daragahi ?? (@borzou) September 27, 2021
I've gotten some questions about a potential regulatory path forward on child safety. An idea:
— Alex Stamos (@alexstamos) September 28, 2021
1) Replace COPPA with a law that encourages a phased approach for kids < 10, 10-12, 13-15 and 16-18, instead of the one bright line at 13. https://t.co/Pct551dtPF
Like Microsoft's CEO, whatever the heck that was with TikTok and the U.S. government brokered sale (that never happened) was one of the weirdest things I've seen in business. https://t.co/AbK7cJWfE5
— Shira Ovide (@ShiraOvide) September 28, 2021
With greater size, influence, & power comes greater responsibilities for transparency & accountability.
— Alex Howard (@digiphile) September 28, 2021
Don't built platforms for billions if you aren't willing to govern them & minimize societal harms.
I agree with @CaseyNewton: @Facebook should open up https://t.co/H7GvXcRrZc
it explained the broader context in which the research was done and highlighted aspects of the research that were more mixed or inconclusive
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) September 28, 2021
So Facebook set a study group to explore tweens but everyone accepted that the magical disappearance of POC was okay? https://t.co/ra5jaRBpWs
— ?Sydette Cosmic Dreaded Gorgon ?? (@Blackamazon) September 28, 2021
There is a case that this would be in FB’s interest. They are getting beaten up pretty bad by TikTok and Snap in a demographic of users that currently isn’t supposed to exist. https://t.co/FRG6zCtg93
— Jeff Horwitz (@JeffHorwitz) September 28, 2021
FB's Nick Clegg is speaking right now at Atlantic Live and says the company plans to release the IG research decks cited by the WSJ series later this week. It released one slide last night, but Clegg says they'll make it all public in next few dayshttps://t.co/9dWiaXvNGZ
— Kurt Wagner (@KurtWagner8) September 27, 2021
terrible idea collapses under weight of CEO arrogance
— Will Is Kristi Noem’s Double-masked Hairdresser (@bywillpollock) September 28, 2021
via @charlottetklein https://t.co/nIv93P4iph
Facebook Delays Instagram App for Users 13 and Younger https://t.co/19eCKnZgNU
— Paul Tweed (@Paul_Tweed) September 28, 2021
I have been discussing this and similar concerns with Prof. Mary Aiken @maryCyPsy
Hard to imagine how anyone could think Instagram For Kids was a good idea. https://t.co/k8Rg3h0M8r
— Sam Warlick (@sawarlick) September 28, 2021
‘On Thursday, Facebook’s global head of safety, Antigone Davis, is scheduled to testify at a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing titled “Protecting Kids Online: Facebook, Instagram and Mental Health Harms.”’
— Collective Shout (@CollectiveShout) September 28, 2021
Read more: https://t.co/bfgeC0TXHE
? @nickclegg just told me at #TAF21 that the company plans to release the Instagram decks to the public “in the next few days.” https://t.co/SS5Jtgt2s3 https://t.co/JeVKIiMkpL
— Sara Fischer (@sarafischer) September 27, 2021
If you aren't watching @sarafischer push Facebook VP of Global Affairs at #TAF21 right now, you are...extremely missing out. https://t.co/U7phNaV8rs
— Julie Bogen (@JaBogen) September 27, 2021