Facebook bosses claim Instagram makes teenage girls feel BETTER about themselves

Facebook bosses claim Instagram makes teenage girls feel BETTER about themselves
Facebook bosses claim Instagram makes teenage girls feel BETTER about themselves

Facebook is pushing back against claims that it has long known that its subsidiary Instagram was harmful to teenage girls’ mental health - arguing instead that the app actually makes most of them feel better about themselves.

The Wall Street Journal, citing a review of internal company documents that included research reports, online employee discussions and drafts of presentations to senior management, said that although Facebook researchers have identified 'the platform's ill effects,' the company failed to fix them.

The most damaging and widely reported claim centered on a statistic showing Instagram made a third of teenage girls surveyed feel worse about their body image.  

But Facebook took issue with the Journal's investigation Sunday. 

The company published a blog post written by Pratiti Raychoudhury, Facebook’s vice president of research.

Raychoudhury’s entry was posted days before Facebook’s top executive in charge of safety, Antigone Davis, testifies on Thursday before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee.

'It is simply not accurate that this research demonstrates Instagram is "toxic" for teen girls,' Raychoudhury writes.

'The research actually demonstrated that many teens we heard from feel that using Instagram helps them when they are struggling with the kinds of hard moments and issues teenagers have always faced.'

Facebook is pushing back against claims that it has long known that its subsidiary Instagram was harmful to teenage girls’ mental health - arguing instead that the app actually makes them feel better about themselves. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is pictured above in 2020

Facebook is pushing back against claims that it has long known that its subsidiary Instagram was harmful to teenage girls’ mental health - arguing instead that the app actually makes them feel better about themselves. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is pictured above in 2020

Raychoudhury writes that the Journal did not note in its story that while girls did struggle with body image after exposure to Instagram, they said they felt better in other areas, like loneliness, anxiety, sadness, and eating issues.

'Body image was the only area where teen girls who reported struggling with the issue said Instagram made it worse as compared to the other 11 areas,' Raychoudhury writes.

'But here also, the majority of teenage girls who experienced body image issues still reported Instagram either made it better or had no impact.'

Raychoudhury claims that the Journal ‘implied that we were hiding this research and that the results are surprising, but that is simply not accurate.’

Facebook claims that the newspaper failed to ‘put specific findings in context’ and that the research cited ‘did not measure causal relationships between Instagram and real-world issues.’

It also cited the number of teens surveyed for some of its findings, claiming that just 40 youngsters provided answers to some questions, meaning it was impossible to report their concerns as a definitive criticism of the social media site.  

Raychoudhury cites other studies from Harvard and Pew which show that young people have an overall positive view of social media.

The company published a blog post on Sunday arguing that teenage girls who use Instagram actually end up feeling better about themselves. As evidence, it cited the above chart

The company published a blog post on Sunday arguing that teenage girls who use Instagram actually end up feeling better about themselves. As evidence, it cited the above chart 

A Pew Internet survey found that 81 percent said social media helps them connect with one another, though 43 percent said they felt pressure to post things that make them ‘look good.’

Raychoudhury writes that Facebook has used the internal research cited by the Journal to ‘inform changes to our apps and provide resources for the people who use them.’

Among the changes that the company has introduced include ‘new resources to support those struggling with body image issues’ as well as removing ‘all graphic content related to suicide.’

Raychoudhury also touts a new feature which ‘allows people to protect themselves from bullying.’

Facebook accused the Journal of omitting data from its story, including one study which found that ‘among teenage girls who said they had felt sadness in the past month, 57 percent said Instagram made things better, and 34 percent said Instagram had no impact.’

Just 9 percent said the app made them feel worse, according to Facebook.

Facebook also took issue with the Journal’s claim that 13 percent of British users and 6 percent of Americans ‘traced the desire to kill themselves to Instagram,’ citing an internal company presentation.

'When we take a step back and look at the full data set, about 1 percent of the entire group of teens who took the survey said they had suicidal thoughts that they felt started on Instagram,' according to Raychoudhury.

'In addition, some of the same research cited by the Journal in the slide above shows that 38 percent of teenage girls who said they struggled with suicidal thoughts and self harm said Instagram made these issues better for them, and 49 percent said it has no impact.' 

The Journal articles say that Facebook exempted high-profile users from some or all of its rules, played down the negative effects on young users of its Instagram app, made changes to its algorithm that made the platform 'angrier,' and had a weak response to alarms raised by employees over how the platform is used in developing countries by human traffickers.

The company disagrees, claiming that teens using Instagram in the US and UK are roughly three times more likely to say that Instagram makes them feel better about their life rather than worse about it. 

The social network posted a rebuttal to The Wall Street Journal’s investigation which cited internal company documents stating that its engineers knew Instagram was having adverse effects on teens’ body image.

 

According to the documents given to the Journal, Facebook had known for two years now that Instagram is toxic for young girls but continued to add beauty-editing filters to the app, despite six per cent of suicidal girls in America blaming it for their desire to kill themselves

According to the documents given to the Journal, Facebook had known for two years now that Instagram is toxic for young girls but continued to add beauty-editing filters to the app, despite six per cent of suicidal girls in America blaming it for their desire to kill themselves 

THE DATA FACEBOOK WAS SHOWN ON HOW INSTAGRAM HARMED YOUNG GIRLS AND BOYS 

Question of the things you've felt in the last month, did any of them start on Instagram? Select all that apply

Not attractive

41% (US)

43% (UK)

 Don't have enough money

42% (US)

42% (UK)

 Don't have enough friends

32% (US)

33% (UK)

 Down, sad or depressed

10% (US)

13% (UK)

 Wanted to kill themselves

6% (US)

13% (UK)

 Wanted to hurt themselves

9% (US)

7% (UK)

Question: In general, how has Instagram affected the way you feel about yourself, your mental health? 

Much worse

US boys and girls: 3%

US boys: 2%

US girls: 3% 

UK total: 2%

UK boys: 1%

UK girls: 2% 

 Somewhat worse

US total: 16%

US Boys 12%

US girls: 18% 

 UK total: 19%

UK boys: 13%

UK girls: 23%

 No effect

US total: 41%

US boys: 37%

US girls: 43%

UK total: 46%

UK boys: 50%

UK girls: 44% 

 Somewhat better

US total: 29%

US boys: 32%

US girls: 29% 

UK total: 28%

UK boys: 31%

UK girls: 26%

 Much better

US total: 12%

US boys: 18%

US girls 8%

UK total: 5%

UK boys: 5%

UK girls: 4%

 

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