Report: Facebook Viewed Children As “Untapped Audience,” Considered Targeting Playdates

Facebook has been under intense fire in recent weeks over a series of Wall Street Journal reports that revealed the company has known for some time that its services can be harmful to young users. This caused Facebook to pause its long-rumored plan to roll out an “Instagram for Kids” feature. However, according to another report released this week, Facebook has thought long and hard about how best to target kids — including by hacking their playdates.

“With the ubiquity of tablets and phones, kids are getting on the internet as young as six years old. We can’t ignore this and we have a responsibility to figure it out,” a confidential internal Facebook document said, according to the WSJ. “Imagine a Facebook experience designed for youth.”

“Are kids using Messenger Kids during playdates, and if so, how are they using the app and talking about the app?” read another document. “Is there a way to leverage playdates to drive word of hand/growth among kids?”

For parents and privacy advocates, this is basically the worst-case scenario of what they imagined Facebook is doing. And with the company set to appear before a Senate hearing this week, it may have to answer for these documents sooner rather than later.




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