Instagram’s chief executive officer, Adam Mosseri, faced intense scrutiny in the US Senate Commerce Committee over claims that the app has neglected the protection of its youngest users.
Facebook, which has recently rebranded to Meta Platforms Inc and owns Instagram, has faced global criticism following whistle-blower France Haugen’s allegations that the company continually valued profits of safety.
Her report, which was published by the Wall Street Journal, said that the social media site impacted the mental health of children and young adults that use the site, leading to body image issues.
Senators pressed Mosseri to provide better transparency over the company’s internal research.
While Mosseri agreed, he claimed the research could not be shares due to data retention laws.
There were also concerns raised about overall child safety online, with one senator pressing Mosseri about a young girl who was groomed online before being trafficked across America.
Before the hearing, Instagram had announced it would be taking several steps to increase online safety, such as allowing teen users to bulk delete comments, not allowing users to be tagged by people they do not follow, and offering a ‘take a break’ service, that reminds users to put the app down if they have been on it for a certain time.
The lawmakers, however, were not convinced, with some believing the company’s claims were hollow, and simply a PR move to distract rather than tackle the issue directly.