Pratiti Raychoudhury, vice president and head of research at Facebook, has shared new details about the investigation carried out by The Wall Street Journal. The American newspaper accused Facebook of having studies that confirm how harmful Instagram can be for young people and of not taking measures to solve it.
Specifically, the study revealed by the aforementioned media detailed that Facebook had very precise data on the mental health problems that the use of Instagram can cause in adolescents. In large part, because the algorithm tends to always show “the best”.
The Facebook statement highlights that the WSJ information is not entirely accurate. The company also assures that the reports were not interpreted correctly . “It is simply not accurate that this research shows that Instagram is 'toxic' to teenage girls. Research has actually shown that many teens we hear about feel that using Instagram has helped them when they are going through tough times and problems that teens have always had to deal with, ”says Raychoudhury.
Facebook downplays the body image problems caused by Instagram in teenagers
Asdrubal Luna | Unsplash The US newspaper highlighted – although it did not show – a slide from 2019 where Facebook detailed that Instagram is harmful to young women with a worrying headline: “We make body image problems worse in one of every three adolescents ”.
Mark Zuckerberg's company defends itself by claiming that the slide shows 12 problems related to mental health. Instagram has helped teens improve 11 of them. Some are anxiety, social comparison, sleep problems, eating problems, or sadness. Being body image problems the only point in which the social network has had a negative impact on adolescents.
The slide mentioned by WSJ, shared by Facebook. Facebook, however, does not specify a solution to this all-important problem . The company says the goal of this internal investigation is “to minimize the bad and maximize the good.” In addition, it does not mention another worrying data that WSJ revealed, where it highlighted that adolescents claimed to be addicted to the social network .
Antígone Davis, Facebook's Global Head of Security, will appear before a Senate Commerce Subcommittee this Thursday , after two senators announced an investigation into the Facebook studies before the United States Congress.
