Instagram head to testify before Congress
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Adam Mosseri, head of Meta-owned Instagram, has agreed to testify before Congress in early December about Instagram's impact on young people, he said in a video posted to Twitter Wednesday.
Why it matters: Meta, formerly Facebook, is continuing to acknowledge mounting concern from the public and lawmakers over social media apps' effect on children and teens.
- News of Mosseri's upcoming testimony was first reported by The New York Times.
What they're saying: "There's an important discussion happening right now about keeping young people safe online," Mosseri said. "I've been thinking a lot about how Instagram shows up, and I'm looking forward to sharing more of the work we're doing in the weeks ahead."
- Mosseri said he thinks of his own three kids when he thinks of kid's safety on the Internet, and that he thinks it's his responsibility to keep children safe while they do "amazing things online."
Details: Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) will lead the hearing before the Senate Commerce consumer protection subcommittee the week of Dec. 6, his office confirmed to Axios.
- “After bombshell reports about Instagram’s toxic impacts, we want to hear straight from the company’s leadership why it uses powerful algorithms that push poisonous content to children driving them down rabbit holes to dark places, and what it will do to make its platform safer," Blumenthal said in an email statement.
- The growing concern over children's safety came to a head after whistleblower Frances Haugen's testimony before Congress and revelations about Instagram's research into teenagers and young girls were revealed in the Wall Street Journal.
