At a Congressional hearing on protecting children online Wednesdsay Adam Mosseri, CEO of Instagram was in the hot seat for over 2 hours. Lawmakers from Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security grilled him on the company's ineffective safety protocols and the affect the content has on the mental health of youth, some of whom have committed suicide.
Mosseri impressed upon the Senate the social network's desire to protect children.
He told the senate that the company has taken responsibility by putting strong safegaurds in place. "We beleive in more transparenacey and accountablility and more control," he said asserting that the company is accountable for instances when their protocols fail. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) reminded the company head that he was under oath and should not lie. Mosseri has said that he is not opposed to regulations on tech companies that promote safety.
Mosseri said the company is still developing a kid version of instagram that he say is more age appropriate.
Since a whistleblower exposed internal research on the irresponsible and unsafe practices of Instagram and its partne company Facebook (now META) Mosseri is the highest-ranking company executive to address Congress as the government seeks to regulate tech giants
. The research confirmed that the app can cause mental harm to some teens.
The U.S. Surgeon General called on social media companies to counter the damage some users report on mental health.