Nick Clegg, Facebook's vice-president of global affairs, stated that the company will add features to combat the negative effects Instagram has on teens. This includes one that encourages younger users to avoid damaging content.
Clegg spoke with CNN's Dana Bash about the State of the Union program. He mentioned the announcement by Facebook last week that it had put off plans to launch an Instagram product for young users. However, he stated that the company still considers it "part of the problem."
Bash was informed by Clegg that while we wait, we will introduce new controls to parents of teens. This is an optional measure, but it allows adults to monitor what their teens do online. "Secondly, I believe we're going make a significant difference. This is when our systems detect that a teenager is looking at the exact same content over and again. If it's content that may not be beneficial to their wellbeing, they will be prompted to view other content.
"And the third and final measure we are introducing is something called "Take a Break", where we will encourage teens to just stop using Instagram.
Clegg also made similar statements on ABC's This Week about the planned features.
Frances Haugen, a whistleblower and ex-Facebook product manager, revealed that Facebook Inc.'s internal research showed that teens report that Instagram can make them feel worse.
Clegg didn't go into detail about the proposed features or why certain content would be considered "not conducive for [teens] wellbeing."
Bash pointed out that the research that was recently published had circulated in the company back to 2019, and asked Clegg if these plans were in place to respond to that research or if they were being revealed now to counter the backlash. Clegg stated that they are "future planning" and pointed out existing measures such as keyword muting or automated prompts that are activated when users look at potentially harmful content, such as those related to eating disorders.
Mashable reached out to Facebook in order to clarify and confirm Clegg's statements.
