Lawmakers Blast Facebook Over Its Effect on Children

“We now know while Facebook publicly denies that Instagram is deeply harmful for teens, privately, Facebook researchers and experts have been ringing the alarm for years. We now know that Facebook routinely puts profits ahead of kids’ online safety. We know it chooses the growth of its products over the well-being of our children, and we now know that it is indefensibly delinquent in acting to protect them.” “The documents show survey results into the digital interests of 8- to-10-year-olds. So with this categorization in mind, does Facebook conduct market research on tweens, yes or no?” “That document is actually from an age-appropriate design code, something that Senator Markey and others have actually given to tech companies as a way for us to think about how we design for — for different — different ages. It is actually a direction on policy —” “So you are admitting to me that you’re designing for 8- to-12-year-olds. I think that that is something that is very interesting because, you know that’s a violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Act. And I guess what you’re telling us then, is that you also are doing market research on children and that you are continuing to collect data on children.”