Protecting Kids Online: Facebook Instagram and Mental Health Harms

Question"Has Facebook ever made internal product decisions that prioritized engagement over the potential impact on misinformation, hate speech, or violence and incitement?"

ResponseSays Facebook prioritizes meaningful over polarizing content and works to limit exposure to debunked misinformation and borderline content.

QuestionAsks how much material Facebook refers to NCMEC yearly and whether the referral process needs reform.

ResponseCites zero-tolerance child exploitation policies, detection technology, and victim support resources; says no tolerance for child sexual exploitation.

Question"Does Facebook collect data—do either Facebook or Instagram collect data or assign interest of adult related material to the profiles of children using your platform?"

ResponseStates Meta bans tobacco and alcohol ads to minors and prohibits sexualization of minors on its platforms.

QuestionAsks for the estimated lifetime value of underage users and whether profit was ever a factor in related product decisions.

ResponseSays decisions for young users focus on parental tools and better experience, not profit calculus, while acknowledging Meta is a business.

Question"[W]hat are you going to do to fix the problem? You are essentially saying there is no problem. Is that right?"

ResponsePoints to the 'take a break' feature meant to interrupt excessive scrolling or app use.

QuestionAsks yes-or-no whether Facebook ever advanced a change known to harm users because it grew usage or revenue.

Response“That has not been my experience at all at Facebook. We care deeply about the safety and security of the people on our platform.”

Question“But isn’t part of your business model to have more eyeballs for a longer amount of time engaged using your services?”

ResponseDenies the model is about maximizing eyeballs, citing news feed changes that cut time spent by ~50M hours/day for a better experience.

Question"Does Facebook have any internal estimates within the last 18 months of how many kids under 13 have accounts on any or all of its services, excluding Messenger Kids?"

ResponseSays Meta has limited data on underage users since they're barred by policy, and removes them once identified.

QuestionChallenges research and marketing allegedly aimed at 8-12 year-olds and asks how the under-13 policy is actually enforced.

ResponseDenies marketing to 8-12 year-olds, cites 600,000 underage accounts removed in three months, and describes age-screening and reporting tools.

QuestionAsks whether Facebook or Instagram collects personally identifiable data on children under 13 without parental consent.

Response"Respectfully, Senator, we do not allow children under the age of 13—"

Response"Senator, it would be my understanding that we don’t since we don’t allow them on our apps.”

Question"Ms. Davis, has Facebook conducted research into how children are more easily manipulated by highly personalized advertising?"

ResponseSays she isn't familiar with the cited research, but notes minors can only be targeted by age, gender, or location, and Messenger Kids under-13 has no ads.

QuestionAsks when and how Meta's safety head first learned of internal research on body image and teen mental health.

ResponseSays her team works closely with researchers on an ongoing basis to understand and improve teens' platform experiences.

Question"Will Facebook release the basis of its research revealed in reporting by the Wall Street Journal (the datasets minus any personally identifiable information) to allow for independent analysis?"

ResponseExplains confidentiality protects candid internal debate, while citing efforts toward more transparency and continued external research publication.

QuestionPresses on exactly which claims -- addictive design or mental-health harm -- he disagrees with.

ResponseDisagrees the product is addictive, citing the time-spent dashboard, reminders, and 'take a break' feature as tools addressing parental concerns.

QuestionAsks when Meta's safety head learned that internal research found Instagram worsens body image for one in three teen girls, and what she did about it.

ResponseClarifies the finding applied to girls who already had the issue, confirms she knew, and cites resulting changes like a dedicated eating-disorder reporting flow.

QuestionAsks why a test account set up as a 13-year-old immediately received eating-disorder and self-harm content, and what AI drove that.

ResponseDenies directing users to eating-disorder content, calls it a policy violation, and cites AI used to find and remove it.

QuestionCites three undisclosed internal Facebook studies on teen body image/social comparison harms; presses Davis to commit to full disclosure of all research.

ResponseDavis says the research isn't causal/a "bombshell," some reports already released, cites privacy considerations for not releasing more; declines to commit to full disclosure.

QuestionBlumenthal characterizes "Finstas" (teens' secret second accounts) as a deliberate Facebook growth strategy that helps hide activity from parents and boosts monetizable engagement metrics.

ResponseDavis says Finstas were a teen-driven behavior, not a Facebook-built feature, and points to upcoming parental supervisory tools as evidence Facebook isn't hiding teen activity.

QuestionCiting an internal report, Blackburn says Facebook knew about domestic-servitude/trafficking content and only acted once Apple threatened to pull the app from the App Store; asks whether young girls on the platform are exposed to it.

ResponseDavis disputes the characterization, says Facebook has anti-trafficking policies; does not directly answer the "did you know / why the delay" or child-exposure questions.

QuestionCiting a WSJ-reported internal document about future product targeting ("tweens... as young as eight"), Blackburn asks point-blank whether Facebook conducts market research on tweens, and accuses Facebook of COPPA-violating data collection on children.

ResponseDavis says the cited document is actually about an age-appropriate design code framework (referencing Sen. Markey's work), not Facebook's own market-research targeting decision; does not directly answer yes/no.

QuestionKlobuchar presses on who specifically will decide whether to "unpause" the paused Instagram-for-kids-under-13 project, and by what criteria.

ResponseDavis never names a decision-maker or criteria; says it will be a "collaborative team" guided by youth advisors, parents, and policymakers.

QuestionKlobuchar asks whether Facebook's reported $51/quarter ad-revenue-per-user figure includes Instagram, and specifically revenue from users under 18.

ResponseDavis says it's not her area, doesn't answer whether the figure includes Instagram/under-18 revenue; says Facebook has "always limited" ads to young people.

QuestionCiting internal stats (32% of teen girls / 6% of teen users linking Instagram to suicidal ideation), Markey demands a yes/no commitment that Facebook won't launch under-12 platforms with popularity-quantifying features (likes, follower counts).

ResponseDavis disputes the "big tobacco" framing and does not give a yes/no commitment; says feature decisions will be made "with experts."

QuestionMarkey seeks a yes/no commitment against (1) launching kids' platforms with influencer/commercial content children can't recognize as ads, and (2) algorithms that funnel teens toward harmful content like diet-pill ads and COVID misinformation.

ResponseDavis doesn't commit yes/no; notes Messenger Kids shows no ads at all, and that weight-loss ads are already barred for under-18s.