Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R) and her Connecticut colleague Richard Blumenthal (D) announced this week they’re launching an inquiry into revelations, reported by The Wall Street Journal about Facebook’s knowledge of harms its products may pose to their young users.
Blumenthal chairs the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security, through which the investigation of the social network will proceed. Blackburn serves as the subcommittee’s ranking member. Last month, the senators wrote to Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg about emerging evidence suggesting the social-media platform’s utilization by teenagers had deleterious impacts on those users’ mental health.
In their letter, they asked Zuckerberg to describe the research he had earlier told Congress his company had conducted on that subject, specifically asking about effects on overuse, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and low self-image. In a joint statement Tuesday, the two senators characterized Facebook’s responses as “evasive” and “misleading.” They said the Journal’s report on Facebook’s internal research “may only be the tip of the iceberg” and promised a thorough senatorial probe.
“We are in touch with a Facebook whistleblower and will use every resource at our disposal to investigate what Facebook knew and when they knew it—including seeking further documents and pursuing witness testimony,” Blackburn and Blumenthal said.
The Journal’s report indicates the social network’s researchers found that 32 percent of teen girls surveyed said that the Facebook-owned photo-sharing application Instagram makes them feel more negatively about their appearances at times when they already felt insecure.
“Comparisons on Instagram can change how young women view and describe themselves,” read a slide presentation provided in March 2020 to members of Facebook’s staff. Another slide from 2019 said, “We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls.”
Another document revealed that 13 percent of British teenage Instagram members and six percent of American teen members who were polled and reported having notions of suicide traced those thoughts to the picture-sharing platform.
The Journal report pointed out that Facebook Inc. takes in about $100 billion in revenue each year and that expanding the number of children and teenagers using its apps has been a priority for the company to maintaining its hefty profits.
One plan outlined by the company to which Blackburn, Blumenthal and a number of other public officials have objected calls for the development of an Instagram platform marketed especially for kids. Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery III (R) took a leading role in coalescing 43 of his counterparts in other states around opposition to this app which is now in development.
“Facebook has a record of failing to protect the safety and privacy of children,” Slatery said in May. “Let’s not take their word for it that this time—and with a product specifically created for children—is going to be any different.”
The corporation’s internal analyses reveal that over 40 percent of Instagram’s users are 22 years old or younger; teenage daily American Instagram users number about 22 million. Roughly 5 million teens use Facebook daily. U.S. teens spend about 50 percent more time on the former than on the latter network, whose young-member base has dwindled over the last 10 years.
“In no way do I mean to diminish these [mental health] issues…,” Instagram executive Adam Mosseri told the Journal in an interview. “Some of the issues mentioned in this story aren’t necessarily widespread, but their impact on people may be huge.” He insists he’s “been pushing very hard for us to embrace our responsibilities more broadly.”
Blackburn and Blumenthal aren’t expecting his supposed exhortations to make a serious impact.
“It is clear that Facebook is incapable of holding itself accountable,” they said. “The Wall Street Journal’s reporting reveals Facebook’s leadership to be focused on a growth-at-all-costs mindset that valued profits over the health and lives of children and teens.”
The lawmakers’ concern over Big Tech companies’ effects on children and teens is longstanding and has extended to other media platforms—particularly the video-sharing app TikTok. In May, the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security held a hearing on protecting youngsters from detriments they fear these platforms present, including intrusive data collection, unscrupulous marketing and sexual exploitation.
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Bradley Vasoli is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Facebook” by Minette Lontsie CC BY-SA 4.0.
