Recently, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal invited Facebook’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg to testify for his actions regarding the harm Instagram does to its users’ mental health, especially minor girls.
After reviewing the leaked internal documents by Facebook’s former employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen, the Senator called Zuckerberg writing, Facebook “appears to have concealed vital information from us about teen mental health and addiction. When I sought specific information about Instagram and teens in an August letter, Facebook provided clearly evasive and misleading answers that have now been directly disputed by Ms. Haugen.”
The Wall Street Journal also reported that internal investigation has proved Facebook has a weak supervision system of ‘reports’ and posts breaching the community guidelines set by the company itself. Apart from shedding light on Haugen’s claims regarding its daughter company, Instagram’s adverse effects on teens’ mental well-being, Facebook’s rebranding news painted an overall black picture of the company and its subsidiaries.
Amid the Facebook-Haugen controversy, Instagram has reportedly paused its plans to develop a photo and video sharing application for kids under 13.
Recalling the meeting with Facebook’s head of safety, the Senator said Antigone Davis provided false testimony so as to conceal its internal investigation. Such actions are taken by companies in order to avoid scrutiny, the Senator added.
