A Parent’s Take on the “Protecting Kids Online: Facebook, Instagram and Mental Health Harms” Senate Hearing of September 30, 2021
U.S. Senators — Facebook Leaders Unlikely to Change Platforms Without Regulation
U.S. Senator (SEN) Richard Blumenthal’s (D-CT) final statement put it best:
“Facebook has failed to hold itself accountable and Congress and the public must do so.”
SEN Blumenthal, Chair, Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security (CP/PS/DS) Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Science, Commerce and Transportation (SCT), presided over the hearing “Protecting Kids Online: Facebook, Instagram and Mental Health Harms” on September 30, 2021. During this three hour hearing, senators asked questions relating to six internal Facebook documents leaked to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that formed the basis of “The Facebook Files” a series of stories about internal Facebook research documenting harms caused by its platforms that had not previously been made public by the company. The WSJ posted all six documents provided by a Facebook whistleblower online:
- Teen Girls Body Image and Social Comparison on Instagram — An Exploratory Study in the US -41 pages
- Appearance-based social comparison on Instagram — 22 pages
- Social comparison: Topics, celebrities, Like counts, selfies — 27 pages
- Mental Health Findings — 17 pages
- Teen & Young Adults on IG & FB — 32 pages
- and the original Teen Mental Health Deep Dive -70 pages
In response, Facebook has released two redacted studies:
- Hard Life Moments-Mental Health Deep Dive -27 pages
- Teen Mental Health Deep Dive -66 pages
Ms. Davis’ response to senators’ questions frequently echoed her written testimony and the blog written by Facebook’s Vice President and Head of Research, Pratiti Raychoudhury. It should be noted that Ms. Davis declined to testify in person, but presented her testimony via video teleconference — from Washington, D.C..
The senators’ questions were centered around the following topics:
Instagram (IG) for Kids
Ms. Davis was repeatedly asked when Facebook (FB) would make the determination if it would continue development of an IG product targeted for use by children under 13 years old. She stated that FB would obtain input from unidentified “Youth Advisors.” Her written testimony stated that she coordinates work with a “global safety network of more than 850 organizations around the world” but Ms. Davis did not indicate the names of these organizations, nor which of these organizations may be more influential than others. She hinted the FB Oversight Board may be asked to provide input on this decision. Her final response, both in written testimony and in response to oral questions was: “The reality is that kids are already online”, FB/IG has difficulties identifying underage users with accounts that have false birth dates, and gave the general impression that she felt that parents are either clueless about or allow fake accounts for their children. Her conclusion was that it was better for FB/IG to continue development of a youth-targeted application.
Teen Mental Health Deep Dive Major Findings:
FB/IG identified three main categories of harms from their online survey of 2,503 teens in late 2019: comparison to others, impact of pressure/looks and impact of others behavior in the FB Whistleblower document Teen Mental Health Deep Dive , pages 32–40. Conclusions from this study include:
- IG Addiction. From FB Whistleblowers document Teen Mental Health Deep Dive , page 53, “Teens want help controlling the time they spend on the app.”
“They [teens] have an addicts’ narrative about their use — it can make them feel good, feel bad. They wish they could spend less time caring about it, but they can’t help themselves.”
Ms. Davis responded to SEN Dan Sullivan’s (R-AK) question regarding the addictive nature of IG use:
“I disagree with calling our product addictive.”
- Depression: Teens who are unsatisfied with their lives are more negatively affected by the app. One in five teens say IG makes them feel worse about themselves. Teens blame IG for increases in the rates of anxiety and depression among teens.
- On-Line Bullying: The FB/IG research team notes: “Bullying is intense but time limited”, but also conceded that:
“the extension of bullying and friendship conflict is new, it’s now in teens’ bedrooms as well as the school yard. In the moment, there are very few mechanisms that young people can draw on when they face bullying online.”
FB Executive Claims Internal Research Contains no “bombshell” findings
Ms. Davis confirmed to SEN Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) that she was aware of FB’s internal research on teen mental health, but told SEN Ted Cruz (R-TX) that she did not feel that the research had any “bombshell” findings.
SEN Sullivan asked if increased time on IG helped relieve teens’ feelings of isolation or helped them cope with mental health issues. Ms. Davis’ responded that FB/IG did not do causal research, so she could not comment. She mentioned that IG was considering adding a “Take A Break” feature and a “Nudges” feature encouraging more “uplifting” content to assist teens with their mental health issues.
Suicidal Ideation in Teens
SEN Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) asked Ms. Davis about IG use and teen reported increase in suicidal ideation. Ms. Davis responded that FB’s research indicated that “only” 0.5 percent of their teen users confirmed that IG use spurred suicidal ideation. The 2018 Pew research survey , Teens & Tech, found that 72 percent of teens 13–17 responded that they used IG, indicating that a large number of teens in the U.S. are at risk.
Government Regulation of Technology
SEN Ed Markey (D-MA) asked some of the most pointed questions about FB’s participation in the development and review of proposed legislation regulating technology platforms. When Ms. Davis pointed out FB’s extensive advertising campaign advocating an update to federal technology regulations, SEN Markey responded that FB had failed for several months to provide any input to his proposed legislation, Kids Internet Design and Safety (KIDS) Act , even after his office provided FB with a draft copy.
In her written testimony, Ms. Davis highlights the fact that IG is just now defaulting all users under the age of 16 to private accounts when they join IG and touts that earlier in 2021 IG blocked adults from sending direct messages to users under age 16 whom they do not “follow.” It should be noted that FB/IG waited until 2021 to implement these much needed safety changes.
SEN Sullivan highlighted that China has regulations in place that limit social media use for teens and youth, but the U. S. does not. Ms. Davis’ response was that she did not want the U.S. government to control how much time her child[ren] [now 23 years old] can spend on social media platforms.
Both the Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives have previously introduced legislation to protect children and teens’ privacy online. The Childrens’ and Teens’ Online Protection Act of 2021 was introduced in May 2021 by SEN Markey and was referred to the Senate SCT committee for action. SEN Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chair, Senate SCT endorsed this legislation during the hearing as did SEN Blumenthal and SEN Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), ranking minority member of the CP/PS/DS subcommittee.
The Kids Internet Design and Safety (KIDS) Act was re-introduced by SEN Blumenthal and SEN Markey on September 30, 2021 in the Senate, and on the same day, Congresswoman Kathy Castor (FL-14), reintroduced this legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives. The KIDS Act would prohibit online practices including amplification of harmful content, damaging design features, and deceitful marketing practices that inflict harm on young people while they are online. The hearing brought needed attention to these important pieces of legislation that have not risen to a level of importance to even stimulate votes in previous Congressional sessions, despite advocacy from many organizations that promote online safety for children and young people.
Many thanks to the influential senators who took their valuable time away from other pressing issues of national importance to highlight the need for updated technology regulation. These senators include: SEN Blumenthal, Sen Blackburn, SEN Cantwell, SEN Markey, SEN Klobuchar, SEN Cruz, SEN Sullivan, SEN Luján, SEN Roger Wicker (R-MS), SEN John Thune (R-SD), SEN Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and SEN Mike Lee (R-UT). Now is the time to write your senator and representative and ask for support of this important legislation.
Social Media Harms provides a listing of peer-reviewed studies, books and articles from authoritative sources that document the negative effects of social media use. The website also includes links to organizations that promote safe social media and internet use.
