At the end of March, Facebook announced its intention to develop an Instagram application specially designed for children (which would supposedly be launched under the name Instagram Kids ), specifically reserved for children under 13 years of age , in order to make this application social network is safer for children, especially when, technically and legally, below this age registration on Instagram is prohibited.
However, many minors tend to break this rule, on many occasions without the consent of their parents, being able to access content that is not so appropriate or recommended for their age.
However, it is clear that one of the main objectives of Instagram is not to reassure parents and protect the safety of children, but above all to counteract the influence of TikTok and Snapchat , the main social networks used by children within this age range.
However, an international coalition of children’s rights professionals decided to send a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, the current head of Facebook, with the intention of asking him to abandon his plan to launch this version of Instagram for children .
The letter was sent by the Childhood Without Commercial Purposes (CCFC), which is characterized as a non-profit organization, based in Boston, that campaigns against marketing directed at children , a group that coordinated with 35 other organizations. and 64 individual experts in order to prepare and send it.
According to the signatories of the letter, “launching a version of Instagram for children under 13 is not the appropriate remedy and would put young users at great risk “, since, ” although the collection of valuable family data and the Retaining a new generation of Instagram users is possibly good for Facebook’s bottom line, it is likely to increase the use of Instagram by young children who are particularly vulnerable to platform functions that favor manipulation and exploitation ”.
In fact, as many specialists have already warned, the desire to obtain approval and the fear of missing something on the part of young people forces them to constantly review their social networks, in addition to continuously sharing photos and videos to please their followers. Therefore, as they state, the existence of an application for children on a social network such as Instagram would not exactly become one of the best options.
