Facebook’s parent company Meta has recently been in hot waters first due to the historical drop in its shares by a flat 25% after the company shared its annual report for the FY 2021 and then due to the European Union (EU) regulations that hindered the company’s operations and applications in the data centers across the region.
Now, religious groups have called on Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Executive Officer Meta, to put an end to the company’s plan for launching an Instagram version for kids, in a letter sent by advocacy group Fairplay and their Children’s Screen Time Action Network, on Tuesday.
Since last September, Instagram has halted its plans to introduce a kids version of the popular photo-sharing platform, after resistance against the project grew. The letter, which was signed by over 70 religious leaders, said:
After much meditation and prayer, we assert that social media platforms that target immature brains, practice unethical data mining, and are inspired by profit motives are not a tool for the greater good of children.
In December, Instagram’s head Adam Mosseri received massive criticism about children’s online safety by a Senate panel, which led to an open inquiry into the company by a coalition of state attorneys, for promoting the platform to young children despite being aware of the potential harms.
Additionally, the company came under intense scrutiny after a whistleblower, Frances Haugen, leaked internal documents detailing the company’s approach towards underage users. While the tech giant did contest saying that the leaked documents were being used to mislead the company’s initiative, it didn’t really convince the masses considering the potential impact of their plan on the mental health, body image, and safety of the platform’s young users.
Although Instagram, like other social media sites, does have rules against children under 13 joining the platform, this doesn’t stop the users under this age from signing up.
