A group of religious leaders including rabbis, reverends, pastors and others have written to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to scrap the company’s plan to launch an Instagram platform for kids. A letter sent by the advocacy group Fairplay and its Children’s Screen Time Action Network emphasized the adverse effects of social media platforms on young minds.
Signed by over 70 religious leaders, the letter read, “After much meditation and prayer, we assert that social media platforms that target immature brains, practice unethical data mining, and are inspired by profit motives are not a tool for the greater good of children.” According to a report by Reuters, the letter contained references from the Bible, Quran and thoughts of Pope Francis and Buddhist monk Thích Nhất Hạnh.
In the past, Zuckerberg had admitted that religion is ‘very important’ to recognize spiritual as well as secular concerns about the project. However, the company has refused to comment on the letter.
What is Instagram Kids?
The image-sharing social media platform Instagram’s parent company Meta had announced plans to roll out a ‘safe and supervised’ Instagram version for kids. The company said that it wanted to provide an Instagram experience for people under the age of 13. “We started this project to address an important problem seen across our industry: kids are getting phones younger and younger, misrepresenting their age, and downloading apps that are meant for those 13 or older,” Instagram had said.
However, after a massive backlash from parents, policymakers, US senate members, Instagram head Adam Mosseri had announced to temporarily pause the launching of the app and devise better parental controls instead.
Instagram’s intent to launch the kids’ version was to provide an alternative for children who are already online with fake identities. The company had also come under intense scrutiny last year after whistleblower Frances Haugen leaked internal documents about the company’s approach towards young users. The leaked report contained internal research done by the company which documented the potential impact of their services on the mental health, body image and safety of young users.
Adam Mosseri was grilled by a US Senate panel on the security of children in December last year for promoting Instagram Kids despite its potential risks. Now religious leaders have also climbed upon the criticism of Instagrams plans for its young users.