Experts Criticize New Facebook Privacy Features For Kids

It came as welcome news when Facebook recently announced a host of new features designed to protect young users. However, experts have begun to come forward and criticize the safety and privacy measures for not going far enough.

While the features allow families to opt into tools that allow parents to supervise their children’s online activity, experts say that this still doesn’t account for how using the platform can damage childrens’ mental health.

“None of these new features address the negative impact their business model is having on the well-being of kids, including their mental health. We need national privacy laws to protect kids,” said Jim Steyer, the founder and CEO of Common Sense Media.

Meanwhile, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said it isn’t fair to put the burden on parents to manage how their children interact with technology that “fundamentally changes how their kids think about themselves, how they build friendships, how they experience the world — and technology, by the way, that prior generations never had to manage.”

Of course, it’s a positive thing that Facebook has made incremental steps toward increasing privacy and protections for young users. However, as these criticisms make clear, far broader changes are still required.




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