Instagram Head Grilled by Senate at Hearing on Teen Safety Online

Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri took the hot seat earlier today at a U.S. Senate hearing on Instagram’s impact on teens. The hearing was spurred in part by documents released by whistleblower Frances Haugen alleging Facebook has done research about the harm it inflicts on the mental health of young girls but has done little to alleviate the impacts. Over the course of a two-and-a-half-hour hearing, Mosseri provided answers that often frustrated lawmakers trying to hold the platform accountable for its effect on teens. “This has been completely unsatisfactory,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., chair of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security, which convened the hearing, at the end of the hearing. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said Mosseri’s answers to his questions about whether the platform would consider banning targeted ads, especially toward children, were “too vague” to craft informed legislation. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said at the end of the hearing that Mosseri sounded “callous,” especially around the platform’s impact on teen suicides. Jason Kint, CEO of digital content trade association Digital Content Next, said transparency should have been one of Mosseri’s key priorities, noting that previous instances where Facebook executives have testified had not been satisfactory. “[As] a senior executive at a company, to sit there under oath and carry the company flag and be deceptive about how you’re harming civil society—I would hope that’s a hard thing to do,” Kint told Adweek. Key Takeaways From Congress’ Digital Competition Report Senators at the hearing highlighted several experiments their teams conducted revealing how easy it was for teens to find harmful content, despite the company’s prevention protocols. For example, Blackburn said when her team made a profile for a 15 year-old teen girl, the platform directed her toward making a public rather than a private account despite the platform’s stated protocol that it would direct teens under 16 to make private accounts. Mosseri later admitted that it was a bug related to accounts created on the desktop version of Instagram that the company would fix. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said when his staff made a fake account for a 13-year-old girl, Instagram suggested it follow a popular celebrity’s account. The user's explore page then became filled with content around plastic surgery, women’s height and other posts the senator claimed caused body dysmorphia and the sexualization of women. Mosseri responded that this type of content was exceedingly rare. In another apparent contradiction, Mosseri first said ads targeted to children can only use age, gender and location data. Later, in response to another question, he added that children’s in-app activity was also taken into account, though not data from off the platform. Mosseri commited to making some changes, including the option for the feed to be chronological, rather than based on user preference, a feature the platform aims to make available by the first quarter of 2022. Mosseri also recommended an industry oversight board to make standards around youth safety on the platforms, and that compliance with these standards would determine platforms' Section 230 protections, which provide platforms immunity for third-party content. Blumenthal said this measure of accountability would be stronger if it were spearheaded by a government body, rather than an industry body. Mosseri stopped short of promising to not release an Instagram Kids product, an initiative the platform paused earlier this year to gain further insight from experts and parents. Mosseri argued that given that younger users are already using the platform, it would be best to design a product that has greater controls. Rob Rakowitz—who leads The Global Alliance for Responsible Media, a consumer and brand safety initiative of the World Federation of Advertisers—said marketers should be listening for more transparency around their algorithm and the platform’s brand safety measure. “Steps are taken when they are absolutely necessary," Rakowitz told Adweek. "When do we get out of this position when Instagram [stops] taking the last latest possible steps and is proactive?” How Brands Are Grappling With TikTok’s Comment Section

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Instagram Head Grilled by Senate at Hearing on Teen Safety Online

Adam Mosseri promises chronological feed, recommends regulatory body

Catherine Perloff

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Catherine Perloff