Senator Richard Blumenthal says the time for self-regulation is over

Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri, was questioned by Congress about the specific steps the photo-sharing social media platform would take to ensure the safety of its younger userbase.

In his first appearance before the parliamentary body, Mosseri had stated that Instagram had been working for months to introduce a chronological feed option to its users in 2022, which would act as an alternative to the algorithm-based feed currently available to users.

In response, lawmakers asked for the specific changes Mosseri and the Instagram team would bring to ensure kids’ safety, including questioning how targeted ads would work moving forward. The platform its parent company, Meta Platforms Inc, recently came under intense scrutiny over the potential impact of their services on the mental health, body image and safety of young users, including after whistleblower Frances Haugen leaked internal documents about the company’s approach to younger users.

Instagram earlier this year had suspended its plans to launch a kids-oriented version of its app. Following the project being scrapped, Haugen had leaked documents that revealed Instagram was aware of the harmful effect the social media platform had on kids. The leak was reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Senator Richard Blumenthal said the time for self-regulation was over and referred to the changes, including Instagram’s pause on its kids’ app, as a “public relations tactic”, while Senator Marsha Blackburn called the updates “too little, too late”.

Blackburn pushed for an immediate release for the chronological feed option, and Blumenthal stated that it could be a “significant step depending on the details.”

Mosseri during his testimony called for the creation of an industry body to outline the standards and practices platforms can use to best keep children safe online. The body, he said, should receive input from civil society, parents, and regulators to create standards on how to verify age, design age-appropriate experiences, and build parental controls.