Facebook company will introduce new changes to its most popular social media apps: Facebook and Instagram. The company’s vice president for global affairs and communications, Nick Clegg told NBC. The upcoming changes are centered around showing a “more friends, less politics” policy to make the platforms healthier.
Earlier, Facebook’s leaked internal report published by WSJ revealed findings of three years long study conducted by the company which stated that Instagram is harmful to up to 20% of teenage girls. The social image and portrayal of physical attractiveness on Instagram cause anxiety issues and unfortunately leads to a high risk of suicide. The report is damaging for the social media giant because Facebook has known the impact of the social media app for that long and has done nothing for the protection of young teenagers. Although the company said that the report is taken out of context and said that the app does more good than harm, a whistleblower blasted the company for prioritizing profits over the well-being of children.
Spokesperson confirms new changes are coming to Instagram and Facebook app
Addressing teenagers’ safety on Instagram. Clegg confirmed in an interview with CNN that Instagram will undergo changes as well for the betterment of their mental health. According to the Deadline, he said:
“But we understand the concerns of some that we need to press pause, listen to experts, explain our intentions, and so on. We’re going to introduce new controls for adults of teens on an optional basis, obviously, so adults can supervise what their teens are doing online.”
He added, “Secondly, we’ll be doing something which I think will make a considerable difference, which is where the teen is looking at the same content over and over again, and its content which may not be conducive so their well-being, we’ll nudge them to look at other content.”
Previously, Instagram introduced a new ‘Sensitive Content Control’ feature which allows users to manage how much sensitive content appears in the app’s Explore section.
