In a society faced with cyberbullying and all manners of internet crime day in and day out. Should creating another social platform for kids be the next phase?
Following the recent user policy guiding Instagram usage; Must be over 13 years of age or older, a news feed from Buzzfeed reveals that Facebook plans on creating an Instagram for kids below the age of 13.
However, many controversies have soared since the news was made public by Instagram’s vice president of products, Vishal Shah. She wrote: “We have identified youth work as a priority for Instagram and have added it to our H1 priority list. We will be building a new youth pillar with the Community Product Group to focus on two things; (a) accelerating our integrity and privacy work to ensure the safest possible experience for teens and (b) building a version of Instagram that allows people under the age of 13 to safely use Instagram for the first time”
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Although, Adam Mosseri: head of Instagram who would be overseeing the project mentioned in his interview with BuzzFeed that “part of the solution is to create a version of Instagram for kids where parents have transparency or custody”. He went further to say that the company doesn’t have a “detailed plan” on the proposal yet.
There is nonetheless no hard fact on how Instagram may prevent kids and teens from experiencing cyberbullying since they are having a hard time proving it on the conventional platform. Also, experience with Messanger Kids and YouTube for Kids, which were reported to not prevent kids from migrating onto the broader platforms, thereby hurting a child’s development, totally mars this initiative.
As Priya Kumar aforementioned, “just because you have a platform for kids, doesn’t mean the kids are going to remain there”.
What’s your take on this? As a parent do you think Instagram for kinds will be safe for your kids?
