Washington, D.C. -Today, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, issued the following statement after Facebook heeded his call to stop development of Instagram for Kids:
“Instagram is toxic for the mental health of teen girls. Despite Facebook’s own internal research showing this, the company was planning to expand the problem to children younger than 13 by giving them access to an Instagram for kids. Last week, I called on Facebook to abandon those plans, and I am glad it listened. I will be watching to ensure this ill-fated plan does not resurface because our kids are not for sale. I also expect Facebook to produce the documents it owes to my Subcommittee in my investigation into Facebook’s apparent disregard for its negative effects on women and girls."
On Sept. 20, 2021, Chairman Krishnamoorthi wrote to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg requesting documents and information on Facebook’s role in facilitating suspected human trafficking and other illegal activity, and the effects of Instagram on the mental health of teen girls.
