"We believe building 'Instagram Kids' is the right thing to do, but we're pausing the work," Facebook announced on September 27 amidst the intense scrutiny the company has been facing following damning revelations made by the Wall Street Journal as part of its Facebook Files investigation. "We’ll use this time to work with parents, experts and policymakers to demonstrate the value and need for this product," the company said. Facebook’s plan to build a version of its app for children under the age of 13, who are currently not allowed on the main app, was first reported by BuzzFeed News in March this year, but it has not been well received by public health experts. Instagram’s impact on mental health of teenagers: WSJ report Internal research conducted by Facebook showed that a large number of teenagers, particularly teenage girls, trace a significant amount of anxiety and mental health problems to Instagram, WSJ reported on September 14. "Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse," a slide in an internal presentation on the results of Facebook’s research said. These findings, finalised in March 2020, were not made public by the company. In a letter written to US lawmakers after the research was conducted, Facebook refused to provide details of research that the company conducted on the impact of its social media platforms on young people. The reticence to share this information provoked comparisons to the tobacco industry in the 20th century by two people cited…
