Facebook grilled over impact on teens’ mental health

WASHINGTON: US Lawmakers on Thursday demanded pledges from Facebook to address escalating worries over its platforms’ impact on teens’ mental health, but a top executive instead offered assurances the sites are already safe.

Senators grilled the social media giant’s Antigone Davis in an hourslong Capitol Hill hearing called over damning reports that Facebook’s own research warned of the harm photosharing app Instagram can do to teenage girls’ well-being.

“This research is a bombshell. It is powerful, gripping, riveting evidence that Facebook knows of the harmful effects of its site on children, and that it has concealed those facts and findings,” Sen Richard Blumenthal said.

Ms Davis, under questioning from Mr Blumenthal and other senators, repeatedly said a Wall Street Journal series had selectively chosen parts of its studies to give an inaccurately dark vision of the company’s work. She told lawmakers that a survey of teens on 12 serious issues like anxiety, sadness and eating disorders, showed that Instagram was generally helpful to them.

“On 11 of the 12 issues, teen girls who said they struggled with those issues were more likely to say that Instagram was affirmatively helping them, not making it worse,” said Ms Davis, who delivered her testimony remotely.

Yet, Mr Blumenthal read aloud excerpts from company documents he said were leaked to lawmakers by a Facebook whistleblower that directly contradicted her. “Substantial evidence suggests that experiences on Instagram and Facebook make body dissatisfaction worse,” he said, adding the finding was not a disgruntled worker’s complaint but company research.

A Facebook whistleblower is set to testify on Tuesday, but it was not immediately clear if that person was also the source of the leaked documents.