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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIs This Facebook's 'Big Tobacco' Moment?
Facebook Inc. executives have long boasted that its platforms are safe, even as they invested in ways to keep teenagers hooked and hid what they knew about the side effects. Sound familiar? Critics say Big Tobacco once used the same playbook, and its fueling a whole new level of outrage against the social media giant.
Facebook consistently played down its own research that showed how photo-sharing app Instagram can harm the mental well-being of its youngest users, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Almost a third of young teen girls told Facebook they feel worse about their bodies after scrolling through the site, documents reviewed by the newspaper showed. Despite that knowledge, Facebook is dedicating more resources to reaching even younger consumers, including developing a childrens version of Instagram.
The revelations are prompting some lawmakers to compare Facebooks actions to a decades-long campaign by the countrys biggest tobacco companies to mislead the public about the cancerous and habit-forming effects of cigarettes. Its executives knew about the addictive chemicals in tobacco and yet they did nothing to try and keep the product out of the hands of children, says Representative Bill Johnson, an Ohio Republican. They knew that if they could get children addicted early, theyd have a customer for life. Its very much the same waychildren, young people, are addicted to these platforms, and you can see report after report on the damage thats being done.
The long-term effects of social media are exactly whats driving concerns about Facebooks plan to build an Instagram for kids. The service, sometimes called Instagram Youth internally, is intended to give preteens an entrance ramp onto social media until they turn 13 and are allowed to join the main site. Facebook argues that kids are lying about their age to get on Instagram anyway, so a youth-oriented productwith parental controlswould be a safer alternative.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-23/facebook-fb-big-tobacco-moment-internal-mental-health-research?cmpid=socialflow-twitter-businessweek&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_content=businessweek
Mike Nelson
(9,959 posts)... that's a poor comparison. The "addictions' are very different. Also, I think, "almost a third of young teen girls" might "feel worse about their bodies after scrolling" through any fashion magazine catering to young teen girls.
... and, doesn't this include boys? It seems like images everywhere want boys to do steroids - like images want girls to get implants. It's all over... and I see it in middle school-aged kids now... it's very sad. Young teenagers need to celebrate different body types and not try to change before they're even grown!
Blue Owl
(50,427 posts)Zuckin 'em down like there's no tomorrow...
jimfields33
(15,823 posts)I bet the average age of Facebook is middle age. Now Instagram is where the youth are. Most young kids could care less about Facebook. Figures the focus is on Facebook years after the young cared about it. Too funny.
bamagal62
(3,264 posts)That uses Facebook. They all use Instagram.
localroger
(3,629 posts)They are now the same company and both sites are managed by the same people to the same purpose, which is selling your eyeballs to people who want to show you targeted ads.
jimfields33
(15,823 posts)God forbid you do a quick search for something. You are stuck seeing that item or subject for weeks after.
localroger
(3,629 posts)Google and Youtube are a similar pair, and now that YT has been called out for disinformation they've seung the other way and become hyper censorious, using Google's automation fetish to delete posts and channels for sometimes ridiculous reasons with no means to seek appeal. And of course WTF are antitrust laws about if not Amazon.