Facebook Knows Instagram Is Toxic for Teen Girls, Company Documents Show

Author: Georgia Wells, Jeff Horwitz, Deepa Seetharaman

Publisher: The Wall Street Journal

Publication Year: N/A

Summary: The following article discusses how internal reports at Facebook found that Instagram presented real harm to teenage girls. About 1/3 of teen girls reported that when they felt insecure about their bodies, Instagram only made them feel worse. The findings had been reported all the way up to Mark Zuckerberg, but nothing was ever done about it. Had it not been for a data scientist who was willing to release the documents to the Wall Street Journal, no one would have found out about the report. Data scientists have a responsibility to make sure that their employers are following best practices. A company that’s actively pushing harmful content to young teens needs to be held responsible