Mark Zuckerberg urged to scrap Instagram for kids- push for a separate children’s app comes after years of complaints from legislators and parents

The push for a separate children’s app comes after years of complaints from legislators and parents that the platform has been slow to identify underage users

Mark Zuckerberg.:File picture

Natasha Singer   |   New York   | 16.04.21: An international coalition of 35 children’s and consumer groups called on Instagram on Thursday to scrap its plans to develop a version of the popular photo-sharing app for users under age 13.

Instagram’s push for a separate children’s app comes after years of complaints from legislators and parents that the platform has been slow to identify underage users and protect them from sexual predators and bullying.

But in a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook — the company that owns the photo-sharing service — the non-profit groups warned that a children’s version of Instagram would not mitigate such problems.

While 10- to 12-year-olds with Instagram accounts would be unlikely to switch to a “babyish version” of the app, the groups said, it could hook even younger users on endless routines of photo-scrolling and body-image shame.

“While collecting valuable family data and cultivating a new generation of Instagram users may be good for Facebook’s bottom line,” the groups, led by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood in Boston, said.

New York Times News Service