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| Facebook: Instagram is safe for young people |
According to the company, Facebook responded after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Instagram platform made body image problems worse for a third of young girls.
The answer came from Pratiti Raichodhury, the company's vice president and chief research officer. Raichoudhury's post claimed that the newspaper's internal research description was inaccurate and attributed this to a misinterpretation of the newspaper's data.
On September 14, The Wall Street Journal published a report on Facebook's internal archives. This is a series of stories about internal corporate documents that were leaked in the newspapers.
The September 14th article focused on data showing that Instagram has a very negative impact on young people. Especially teenage girls.
The platform's parent company is well aware of the harm its products cause to teens, and the company's efforts to publicly address and minimize these issues are minimal.
Facebook avoids talking about the research cited by the Wall Street Journal. However, the company's head of global security, Antigo Davis, is expected to attend the Senate Trade Subcommittee. This is in response to allegations made in the history and plans of the Instagram Kids platform.
Raichoudhury explicitly called this meeting the cause of publication. Raichoudhury ignored many of the topics raised in newspaper articles, including teens who claimed to be addicted to Instagram.
Instead, he focuses his energy on underestimating the value of the company's own research. Many of the harshest statements in the Wall Street Journal focused on a study with just 40 participants, according to Raichoudhury.
Facebook denies reports that Instagram has been hacked
Raichoudhury says this small study aims to enrich internal conversations about the most negative views of young people on Instagram.
Raichoudhury was also concerned when the Wall Street Journal reported its Facebook-informed section that we were " worsening the body image of a third of girls".
Raichoudhury noted that body image issues are just one of 12 potential problems Instagram could make girls worse off.
"Body Image is the only girl who reported problems and said Instagram made the problem worse compared to the other 11 areas," she wrote.
Facebook, Instagram and Raichoudhury have not released the actual data they cited in response to the press articles.