Adam Mosseri says Instagram is pausing work on Instagram Kids, after criticism from parents, experts, regulators, policymakers, and others
Good morning! This Tuesday, Facebook says Instagram isn't bad for teens … Ben Lyons / Gamereactor UK : Development of Instagram Kids has been paused Barbara Ortutay / NBC Bay Area : EXPLAINER: Why Facebook Is Holding Off — for Now — on Kids' Instagram Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair : Facebook Pauses “Instagram Kids” but Swears It's Still a Good Idea Ivan Mehta / TNW : Facebook won't force WhatsApp and Messenger integration on you, VP claims Benjamin Din / Politico : House Judiciary mulls how to juice tech competition Associated Press : Why Facebook Is Suspending Instagram for Kids Nalin Rawat / fossbytes.com : YouTube CEO Says “Their Platform Is Beneficial To Teens” Just As Instagram Abandons Kids App Sarvesh Mathi / MediaNama : Facebook says it is pausing work on Instagram Kids even though it is a good idea Steve Muchoki / Coinspeaker : FB Stock 1% Down, Facebook Pauses Development of Instagram Kids Due to Heavy Criticism Sumit Adhikari / Android Headlines : Lawmakers Want Facebook To Completely Abandon Instagram Kids App Jack Kennedy / Silicon Republic : Facebook suspends Instagram Kids development Balakumar K / TechRadar : Facebook ‘pauses’ Instagram for Kids plan - But it may be gone forever Matt Grossman / Livemint : Facebook to pause work on Instagram kids version amid controversy Tyler Lee / Ubergizmo : Instagram Hits The Pause Button On Development Of ‘Instagram Kids’ Isabella Simonetti / Observer : Facebook Halts Work on Instagram Kids App Amid Pressure From Lawmakers Isobel Asher Hamilton / Insider : Instagram says it's putting a hold on its ‘Instagram Kids’ project for under-13s, citing backlash Cal Jeffrey / TechSpot : Facebook pauses Instagram Kids app, but Congress says, ‘abandon’ it Makena Kelly / The Verge : Congress isn't satisfied with Facebook's pause on Instagram Kids Martin Peers / The Information : Facebook's Instagram Kids Retreat Signals Limits on Expansion Potential Samantha Murphy Kelly / CNN : Facebook is hitting the brakes on Instagram for kids news.com.au : Instagram pauses controversial plan Natasha Lomas / Yahoo Finance : Instagram puts kids version ‘on ice’ after critical backlash Fortune : Inside the mystifying mind of Peter Thiel J. Clara Chan / Hollywood Reporter : Instagram to Temporarily Suspend Development of App for Kids Wilson Wong / NBC News : Instagram to ‘pause’ development of new app for children Andrew Hutchinson / Social Media Today : Instagram Pauses ‘Instagram for Kids’ Project After Recent Media Reports Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch : Daily Crunch: Facebook pauses plans to release Instagram app for kids Tweets: @mosseri : We're pausing “Instagram Kids”, although we believe building it is the right thing to do. More here: https://about.instagram.com/ ... @mosseri : We're pausing “Instagram Kids.” This was a tough decision. I still think building this experience is the right thing to do, but we want to take more time to speak with parents and experts working out how to get this right. https://twitter.com/... Alex Stamos / @alexstamos : Ugly Truths: 1) Preteens probably shouldn't have phones, but parents give them anyway. 2) Young teens shouldn't be on social media, but parents allow. 3) Older teens still need guidance and check-ins. 4) If you have younger users, knowing and catering to that might be safer. @todayshow : “I still firmly believe that it's a good thing to build a version of Instagram that's designed to be safe for tweens.” - Adam @Mosseri, head of Instagram https://twitter.com/... Dave Girouard / @davegirouard : Instagram for kids. There I built it for you. [Pictured: “Go TF Outside!"] @todayshow : Watch @craigmelvin's full interview with Adam @Mosseri, head of Instagram, who says that a version of Instagram for kids has been put on hold amid reports that the company had internal research showing its popular app may be harmful to the mental health of teenage girls. https://twitter.com/... Steve Kovach / @stevekovach : Last night FB attempted a point-by-point analysis of why it thinks WSJ was wrong about Instagram harming teen girls. https://about.fb.com/... This morning it “paused” Instagram kids over concerns raised in WSJ series. https://www.cnbc.com/... Ed Markey / @senmarkey : Facebook is heeding our calls to stop plowing ahead with plans to launch a version of Instagram for kids. But a “pause” is insufficient. Facebook must completely abandon this project. https://twitter.com/... Evan Greer / @evan_greer : Instagram Kids is/was a bad idea because Facebook's surveillance capitalist business model is fundamentally toxic. But the idea that teenagers should be denied access to social media is also bad. There are a lot of kids for whom the Internet is a lifeline. They deserve options. @mosseri : I have to believe parents would prefer the option for their children to use an age-appropriate version of Instagram - that gives them oversight - than the alternative. But I'm not here to downplay their concerns, we have to get this right. @rmac18 : When @CraigSilverman and I broke that Facebook was building Instagram for Kids in March, it was clear how the company had given little thought to how it was going to be developed. Six months later the company is pausing that project amid more scrutiny. https://www.nytimes.com/... Jeff Horwitz / @jeffhorwitz : “Critics of “Instagram Kids” will see this as an acknowledgement that the project is a bad idea. That's not the case.” https://about.instagram.com/ ... Late last week @georgia_wells and I told Instagram we had something coming on this subject. Olivia Solon / @oliviasolon : Instagram head @mosseri just announced Facebook is stopping work on Instagram Kids It's something child safety groups have been demanding for months https://www.nbcnews.com/... Evan Greer / @evan_greer : Instead of repeating the too-simple narrative that “social media is bad for kids,” or pushing for more age-verification (which fails in so many ways, especially for marginalized kids) we should be asking ourselves what kind of Internet we want our children to grow up using Blake E. Reid / @blakereid : This is sort of fair enough, but labeling these as “societal problems” is a dodge. The platforms have built all these services with little coherent thought or design dedicated to the potential for kids using them even though their growth models have made kid use very predictable. https://twitter.com/... Damian Collins / @damiancollins : Instagram causes anxiety & depression amongst teen users. There's no effective age verification for under 13s. These are the issues to address but the bottom line is, they only really care about their bottom line. We need independent regulation of big tech https://about.instagram.com/ ... Josh Stein / @joshstein_ : Instagram for kids is a terrible idea. While I am pleased that Facebook has put the project on hold, it actually needs to throw the idea in the trash can for good. Donie O'Sullivan / @donie : Instagram stopping development of “Instagram Kids” is going to be a talking point Facebook will use repeatedly in front of Congress Thursday — will take away time from the actual issue: how Instagram is messing up teens already. @ellle_em : Like I'm not an expert...I run a friggin cat sanctuary. But if you're gonna call something “Instagram Kids” and then passively-aggressively blame the public for thinking “this must be for kids” you're....not putting things together very well Fairplay / @fairplayforkids : Amazing that one of the world's most powerful companies pretends its helpless to change status quo. Take some responsibility. Have you ever used your tremendous reach with parents to tell them we don't want your U13s on IG? https://twitter.com/... Chris Vickery / @vickerysec : Apparently Alex Stamos does still work for Facebook, he just doesn't draw a regular paycheck anymore. https://twitter.com/... @ellle_em : Man you'd think a company with this much money would be able to figure out a....very simple branding issue here https://twitter.com/... CathyMcMorrisRodgers / @cathymcmorris : This decision is a step in the right direction. We have been calling on Big Tech to be more transparent so parents can make informed decisions about their children's social media use. Our children's mental health is worth fighting for and we will continue that fight. https://twitter.com/... Congresswoman Lori Trahan / @reploritrahan : .@Facebook's decision to pause the creation of an “Instagram Kids” is important, but it doesn't go far enough. The company should permanently abandon those plans, release its full internal research, and focus on making its current services safer for users, especially young girls. https://twitter.com/... US Rep Kathy Castor / @usrepkcastor : Instagram harms the mental health of children. Zuckerberg & Facebook execs know this. Their own research confirms it. I've urged them NOT to target kids and to end any effort to profit off children. + Congress should pass my #KidsPRICVY Act asap. https://www.cbsnews.com/... Rep. Ken Buck / @repkenbuck : Pausing Instagram kids is not enough. They need to abolish the program completely. Facebook knows it is toxic for our kids, they simply don't care. https://www.wsj.com/... Roger McNamee / @moonalice : Now pause Facebook. https://twitter.com/... Sam Shead / @sam_l_shead : Instagram has “paused” work on the Instagram Kids app it was building https://t.co/FybadJOTPb Dave Jamieson / @jamieson : I think we all knew intuitively that ‘Instagram for Kids’ was a bad idea. Credit to WSJ reporting for getting it shelved https://www.wsj.com/... U.S. Rep. Bob Latta / @boblatta : .@Facebook is putting ‘Instagram Kids’ on pause after internal docs showed the damage that @instagram has had on the mental health of teens. A good step, but tech companies need to be much more transparent about how their products affect our children. https://www.cnbc.com/... Gus Bilirakis / @repgusbilirakis : I'm encouraged to see @Facebook pausing development of Instagram for Kids and pledging to do more to empower parents. Its a shame it only took this important step after leaked internal studies showed the company knew its products were harmful to teens. https://www.cnbc.com/... Rick Scott / @senrickscott : I urged @facebook earlier this year to address my serious concern of social media's negative impacts on children & young adults. It's time Congress acts & pass my Safe Social Media Act, so we can understand the harmful risks of social media on our most vulnerable. https://twitter.com/... David Grossman / @davidgross_man : We're pausing “Smokin' Joe Camel and His Smooth Flavors.” This was a tough decision. I still think posing Joe Camel in a backwards hat while driving a racecar enjoying the smooth, smooth flavor of a Camel cigarette was the right thing to do https://twitter.com/... @hkesvani : You can't expects teenagers or even pre-teens to not have an online presence when platforms have deliberately placed themselves as arbiters of social life. It's basically like telling them that they're prohibited from being part of broader society https://twitter.com/... Ashlee Vance / @ashleevance : I'm so laid back that I'll harvest your kids later https://twitter.com/... Alex Stamos / @alexstamos : The current “X for Kids” discourse reminds me of the journalistic feeding frenzy around Facebook's NCII protections. It's fun to sit on the sidelines and heckle any imperfect solution to hard, broad societal problems. Less fun to come up with solutions to be heckled. Alex Stamos / @alexstamos : I would probably start by asking the phone platforms to make age something that is flowed through to all apps, triggers reasonable defaults per age and part of initial setup (and hard to change). Xbox is probably the best example. Alex Stamos / @alexstamos : Everybody ragging on “X for Kids” should propose their ideas. Parents letting 11yos lie about their age and join services with adults is a pretty bad status quo. Alex Stamos / @alexstamos : And doing so in an environment where you can't trust parents to properly enforce boundaries (although maybe they would with better tooling) or without a PRC-like model of showing ID to get online accounts. @samidh : So while it probably isn't impossible to build an ‘IG Kids’ version that Tweens truly prefer, will be a very challenging endeavor. Gotta crack the finsta issue while not chilling 13+ finstas. Glad the IG team, which is the best in the biz, is taking the time to figure this out. @samidh : ‘IG Kids’ would truly need to be a more appealing product for tweens. YouTube can pull it off because the regular interface is still somewhat complex (requires typing). But regular IG is already so tween friendly. Victim of its own success in this regard. @samidh : Should this also be interpreted as tacit acknowledgment that current mechanisms for age gating are ineffective? If so, seems like ‘IG Kids’ won't easily solve this problem. Don't need a boatload of research to know that Tweens will still want the grown up version. https://twitter.com/... Alex Stamos / @alexstamos : A lot of the public policy challenge here is balancing caring about: 1) Passive harms to kids using screens 2) Active but non-criminal harms, like teen bullying, “Thinstagram” and overall crappy influencer culture 3) Active, adversarial and criminal harms (grooming, sextortion) Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel : this doesn't have hardly anything to do with the news here...but i'm interested in the video aesthetic (which i see in documentaries now) of starting the confessional with the person sitting down https://twitter.com/... @fboversight : Following the WSJ reporting about the mental health effects of Instagram on teenagers, Facebook paused “Instagram for Kids.” They need to cancel the program, completely. https://www.wsj.com/... Sven Henrich / @northmantrader : Medellín Cartel pausing effort to make crack for kids. https://twitter.com/... Mike Elgan / @mikeelgan : Facebook has zero moral compass, zero ethics. They respond only to bad press, which affects the money. https://twitter.com/... @rationalwalk : Local drug dealer halts development on lower dose version meant to introduce children to the product. https://www.wsj.com/... Olivia Solon / @oliviasolon : Excited to see how Facebook will square the “actually, our research shows that Instagram is good for teens” message with this announcement Jillian C. York / @jilliancyork : I would just like to say that I told them not to do this THREE YEARS AGO when consulted. https://twitter.com/... @umairh : LOL you soulless capitalist assholes delete your whole app https://twitter.com/... Cecilia Kang / @ceciliakang : Lawmakers respond: “A ‘pause’ is insufficient, however. Facebook has completely forfeited the benefit of the doubt when it comes to protecting young people online and it must completely abandon this project,” @SenMarkey @USRepKCastor @SenBlumenthal @RepLoriTrahan https://twitter.com/... Cristiano Lima / @viacristiano : Inbox: Four of Congress's biggest Democratic kids' privacy advocates say Facebook pausing plans for Instagram Kids is “insufficient” https://twitter.com/... @mosseri : While we stand by the need to develop this experience, we've decided to pause to give us time to work with parents, experts, policymakers and regulators, to listen to their concerns, and to demonstrate the value and importance of this project for younger teens online today. Josh Hawley / @hawleymo : This is the least @instagram and @Facebook can do. Now they need to release the full results of their internal research showing @instagram harms teenagers https://twitter.com/... Clare Malone / @claremalone : Instagram has paused this but the Teen version of its app seems like it will very much be a thing in the future, despite its own findings that “we make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls.” https://www.wsj.com/... @todayshow : “If anybody leaves using Instagram feeling worse about themselves, that's an important issue that we need to take seriously and that we need to figure out how to address.” -Adam @Mosseri, head of Instagram, on body image issues for teens https://twitter.com/... Cecilia Kang / @ceciliakang : Ahead of a hearing this week on Instagram harms on youth. https://t.co/etKmFoSKwM Dan Brooks / @dangerbrooks : It's remarkable how much of this press release is phrased in terms of “need” and “the right thing to do,” as though Instagram were a moral imperative and not a business plan. Everyone talks like this now. https://twitter.com/... Borzou Daragahi / @borzou : Mark Zuckerberg has known for years that Instagram was harmful to teenaged women. But it a media expose of leaked documents for him to trot out one of his bootlickers to announce plans to roll out Instagram for kids would be halted https://www.wsj.com/... Dan Primack / @danprimack : I think this is probably going to stretch the definition of “pause.” https://about.instagram.com/ ... Sara Mauskopf / @sm : wait @mosseri you were seriously building an Instagram for 10 year old girls? Do you have daughters? Do you have any mothers of ~10 year old girls on your team? https://twitter.com/... Brandy Jensen / @brandyljensen : we live in such sinister times https://twitter.com/... Jason Kint / @jason_kint : 1) good call 2) issue wasn't whether product was needed but whether FB can be trusted to operate it (it can't, this is proven), 3) one link in @mosseri post to ongoing attempts to discredit WSJ reconfirms spineless amateur hour in failing to rebuild trust. https://www.theverge.com/... Shira Ovide / @shiraovide : The best thing about a version of Instagram for preteens is that it acknowledged the reality that kids under 13 use Instagram already. The worst thing was that Instagram for kids came from Facebook. “There's a high cost to a bad reputation,” as Uber's CEO once said. https://twitter.com/... Steve Kovach / @stevekovach : I'm surprised FB didn't double down and continue making Instagram for kids after spending weeks defending itself over the WSJ series the way it has. https://twitter.com/... Brandy Zadrozny / @brandyzadrozny : Mosseri seems to frame this as a future with only two options: one where kids and teens use the existing Insta which has proven not great for their mental health and safety OR one where they use a new Insta “kids” version. https://twitter.com/... Heidi N. Moore / @moorehn : Just saw that the head of Instagram has “married up” in his bio, suddenly it makes sense why the platform has Pivoted to Insecurity. @kkomaitis : This 👇 was from the beginning a very, unbelievably, astonishingly stupid idea! It should not be paused but terminated! #teens #instagram #Facebook https://about.instagram.com/ ... Cristiano Lima / @viacristiano : Facebook announces plans for controversial project. Project faces intense scrutiny from policymakers. Facebook halts project temporarily. The circle of life for FB products https://twitter.com/... @mosseri : This experience was never meant for kids. We were designing an experience for tweens (10-12yo), and it was never going to be the same as Instagram today. Parents approve tween accounts and have oversight over who they follow, who follows them, who messages them, time spent etc. @mosseri : Us pausing doesn't change the status quo. U13s are getting phones, misrepresenting their age, and downloading 13+ apps. YouTube and TikTok saw this happening and made u13 products, we were doing the same. @mosseri : We'll continue all the work we do to keep teens safe. We've spent a lot of time on bullying, social comparison, and age-appropriate features like default private accounts for u18s. But we're doing more, like building new features like “Nudges” and “Take a Break”. More to come. Cristiano Lima / @viacristiano : Facebook is slated to testify before the Senate this week, where many lawmakers have called on it to abandon Instagram Kids altogether https://twitter.com/... Katie Notopoulos / @katienotopoulos : Huge opportunity for Twitter for Kids https://twitter.com/... Silvia Killingsworth / @silviakillings : hats off @wsj https://about.instagram.com/ ... Andy Stone / @andymstone : As @mosseri just announced, we are: 1. Pausing the development of “Instagram Kids” 2. Continuing to build opt-in parental supervision tools 3. Maintaining a focus on teen safety https://about.instagram.com/ ... @bplewis : Well color me shocked to read that Facebook says a Facebook study about a Facebook property finds that said Facebook property is not a toxic cesspool for teenagers according to Facebook https://twitter.com/... Sara Fischer / @sarafischer : 🚨 Facebook pausing Instagram Kids, per new blog post authored by @mosseri - “We believe building “Instagram Kids” is the right thing to do, but we're pausing the work.” https://twitter.com/... Olivia Solon / @oliviasolon : From Facebook's official blog post https://about.instagram.com/ ... https://twitter.com/... Kurt Wagner / @kurtwagner8 : Facebook just published a blog post that argues its research shows that IG is not as bad for teen girls as WSJ reported last week. They offered up this research slide, which is the same slide it claims WSJ cited in its piece https://about.fb.com/... https://twitter.com/... Dan Sandler / @danielsand : @CaseyNewton Is it just me, or is their PR purposely written to be difficult to actually parse their message. They at one point talk about how the WSJ is basing on a super small N (<50) so their results are not significant. Then claim the same study shows they are doing good. Benedict Evans / @benedictevans : The irony of calling the WSJ's set of internal FB docs ‘a new Cambridge Analytica’ moment is that CA was, in the end, nonsense - a hoax. None of the things people worried about had happened, but the idea it might have been true changed people's attitudes...
Context & Ripple Effects
Instagram had only recently begun developing an under-13 version of the service, with the work assigned to a Facebook VP in the initial Instagram Kids effort. The pause arrives as lawmakers press Facebook to abandon the project and disclose internal research on youth impacts.
The company’s response shifted from launching a separate product to emphasizing safeguards on the existing service; ahead of a congressional hearing, Mosseri outlined planned parental controls for Instagram.
First-order effects
- Instagram halts development of Instagram Kids, removing an immediate source of conflict with parents, experts, regulators, and policymakers.
- Facebook enters its Senate testimony under pressure to address youth-safety concerns and demands for its internal research rather than defend an active children’s-product rollout.
Second-order effects
- Instagram’s forthcoming parental controls become the company’s nearer-term answer to youth-safety scrutiny, concentrating product work on supervision and account-management tools for current users.
- Lawmakers gain leverage to seek a permanent end to Instagram Kids and greater disclosure, because the pause acknowledges that the project cannot proceed on its prior timetable.
Third-order effects
- If platform companies respond to youth-harm scrutiny by shelving age-specific expansion and adding controls to existing products, trust and safety requirements will increasingly shape product roadmaps before launch.
- The episode points toward a more adversarial oversight model in which congressional scrutiny and internal-research disclosure pressure influence consumer-platform decisions.
The trend: Youth-safety scrutiny is turning trust protections and research transparency into constraints on social-platform product expansion.