Facebook knew of toxic effect

AUSTRALIA’S eSafety commissioner has confronted Facebook officials over leaked documents that show the company knew about its platform Instagram’s toxic impact on youth mental health for years.

Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has spoken to the tech giant’s executives to discuss “allegations that have surfaced” after it was revealed the company was aware as early as 2019 that it made “body image issues worse for one in three teen girls”.

“We are speaking to Facebook … I want to be able to make my own determinations,” she said.

She added that she did not want to disclose what happened in the meeting.

“We certainly have an idea about what we think some of their safety shortcomings are,” she said.

“If you have a finding and you know you are damaging children, what are you going to do about it?”