For Immediate Release
September 14, 2021
Contact: press@accountabletech.org

Accountable Tech Executive Director Nicole Gill released the following statement Tuesday in response to The Wall Street Journal’s report, “Facebook Knows Instagram Is Toxic for Teen Girls, Company Documents Show.”

“There is nothing more chilling than turning one’s back on a child who’s in harm’s way. Yet, this is what Facebook and Instagram executives do every day. They have repeatedly downplayed and cast doubt upon any harms their platforms may inflict on kids’ and teens’ mental health – even in testimony before Congress – all while sitting on mountains of ‘proprietary’ research showing Instagram has had a uniquely devastating impact on its young users.

“Mark Zuckerberg, Adam Mosseri, and anyone else involved in Facebook and Instagram’s decision to suppress life-or-death research about young people’s mental health in order to protect their bottom line, must be held accountable. They owe it to their users, to parents, to the medical community, and to Congress to immediately turn over all internal studies and related documents that shed light on how their products impact the well-being of our children.

“It’s all the more craven that the same company that wilfully covers up its harrowing impacts on minors’ mental health plans to hook even younger children on those very products by rolling out a new ‘Instagram for Kids.’ Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s thirst for corporate profits is insatiable and, seemingly, without boundary. Parents across the political spectrum already distrust Big Tech, and today’s news will only harden activists’ resolve to prevent Facebook and Instagram from bringing more kids into its toxic fold.”

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