{"id":415992,"date":"2021-09-28T00:50:53","date_gmt":"2021-09-27T22:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=415992"},"modified":"2021-09-28T00:53:34","modified_gmt":"2021-09-27T22:53:34","slug":"facebook-halts-instagram-kids-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/internet\/415992-facebook-halts-instagram-kids-development.html","title":{"rendered":"Facebook halts &#8220;Instagram Kids&#8221; development"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Instagram is pausing the development of \u201cInstagram Kids\u201d following criticism from its users and other concerned parties, the social media company said in a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/about.instagram.com\/blog\/announcements\/pausing-instagram-kids\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">blog post<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The Facebook-owned company aimed to build an Instagram experience for people younger than 13 to prevent those with smartphones from misrepresenting their age to access the platform.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe started this project to address an important problem seen across our industry: kids are getting phones younger and younger, misrepresenting their age, and downloading apps that are meant for those 13 or older,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, has emphasised that the intention of \u201cInstagram Kids\u201d has been misinterpreted by the public and that the platform was intended for children aged 10 to 12.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">While we stand by the need to develop this experience, we\u2019ve decided to pause to 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Adam Mosseri &#x1f637; (@mosseri) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mosseri\/status\/1442461234935308289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 27, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was never meant for younger kids, but for tweens,\u201d Mosseri <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mosseri\/status\/1442461236311076865\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said on Twitter<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Mosseri blames the early leak of \u201cInstagram Kids\u201d for creating this misunderstanding of the platform.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe project leaked way before we knew what it would be. People feared the worst, and we had few answers at that stage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The halting of \u201cInstagram Kids\u201d development comes after Facebook was criticised in <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/the-facebook-files-11631713039\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">several reports<\/a><\/strong> from the Wall Street Journal, including a story revealing that Instagram is harmful to teenagers, particularly teen girls.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRecent WSJ reporting caused even greater concern. It\u2019s clear we need to take more time on this,\u201d Mosseri said.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Now Read:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/technology\/415766-south-africas-whatsapp-competitor-that-doesnt-use-data.html\">South Africa&#8217;s WhatsApp competitor that doesn&#8217;t use data<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Instagram is pausing the development of its platform aimed at children between 10 and 12, blaming a leak for the misinterpretation of the project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":415996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[72414,161,10424,72698],"class_list":["post-415992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internet","tag-adam-mosseri","tag-facebook","tag-instagram","tag-instagram-kids"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415992"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}