The news cycle is still churning around Facebook, its internal research into the effect of Instagram on young people and its alleged refusal to act on the findings. On Sunday, vice president of global affairs Nick Clegg said the company will “nudge” teens to take a break from the apps.
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“We’re going to introduce something which I think will make a considerable difference, which is where our systems see that the teenager is looking at the same content over and over again and it’s content which may not be conducive to their well-being, we will nudge them to look at other content,” he said during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union.
As a result, he said, the company is “introducing something called ‘Take a Break’ where we will be prompting teens to just simply just take a break from using Instagram.”He also told anchor Dana Bash that the company is open to regulators accessing Facebook algorithms that amplify content, but could not speak to whether those algorithms amplified content from the people who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
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Clegg’s comments came days after a whistleblower named Frances Haugen testified at a Congressional hearing about what she witnessed while working at Facebook. She said the apps are designed to keep consumers scrolling, but that they harm young people in the process.
Amid criticism of its handling of research on the effects of Instagram on children, Facebook announced last month it would be “pausing” the creation of “Instagram Kids.” The new program would have created an Instagram experience specifically for kids under the age of 13.
Facebook has insisted that the assertion it took no action after discovering Instagram is harmful to teens is “just plain false.”