Instagram puts Kids App on hold following criticism

Amid growing opposition, Facebook has decided to suspend the development of a "kids" version of the Instagram app aimed at children between the ages of 10-12. Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, announced the decision to take a step back to approach Instagram Kids with more thought and care.

"I have three children and their safety is the most important thing in my life. I hear the concerns with this project, and we're announcing these steps today so we can get it right." Mosseri quoted as saying.

"We believe building 'Instagram Kids' is the right thing to do, but we're pausing the work," Instagram said in a blog post. The company said that it stands "by the need to develop this experience" and has decided to pause this project.

"This will give us time to work with parents, experts, policymakers and regulators, to listen to their concerns, and to demonstrate the value and importance of this project for younger teens online today," Instagram said in a blog post.

Instagram said "Critics of 'Instagram Kids' will see this as an acknowledgement that the project is a bad idea. That's not the case. The reality is that kids are already online, and we believe that developing age-appropriate experiences designed specifically for them is far better for parents than where we are today."

Meanwhile, Facebook, the parent company of Instagram has also shared more details about its internal research into Instagram's impact on teenage girls as the social media giant hits back at a report on the research after it was made public on The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

In a blog post, Facebook Vice President and Head of Research, Pratiti Raychoudhury dismissed the WSJ's assessment of internal research as not accurate and denied the claims that Instagram was toxic for teenage girls.

On September 14, the WSJ published a story on The Facebook Files focused on data suggesting that Instagram had an extremely damaging effect on teenagers, especially teenage girls.

The newspaper said Facebook was well aware of the harm its products were doing to teens and that the company "has made minimal efforts to address these issues and plays them down in public"

Meanwhile, Reuters quoted Josh Golin, executive director of Fairplay, an advocacy group focused on kids saying that it won't stop pressuring Facebook until they permanently pull the new project focusing on Kids. Apart from advocacy groups, US Democratic lawmakers have called on the company to completely abandon the project.