Facebook sought to attract preteen users

Facebook to shut down its face-recognition system

Facebook to shut down its face-recognition system. Image: Pixabay

Facebook sought to attract preteen users. Facebook reportedly had looked at targeting youngsters aged between 10 and 12 years old.

According to internal documents which were leaked, Facebook considers young children aged between 10-12 an “untapped audience”. The company is said to have looked at how to make Facebook an essential part of playdates.

Facebook created a team which studied ways to engage young people. The company is said to have been concerned by the popularity of rivals including Snapchat and TikTok.

According to The Wall Street Journal, one document from last year said: “Why do we care about tweens?”

“They are a valuable but untapped audience.”

Earlier this week Facebook who owns Instagram announced that they were suspending Instagram for Kids. The company are facing many questions over how influential they are with young people.

The Wall Street Journal had highlighted how Facebook knew Instagram was bad for the mental well-being of young people. It seems that this may have affected Facebook’s decision to suspend Instagram for kids.

On Monday, September 27, the head of Instagram Adam Mosseri, blogged about the project. He said: “While we stand by the need to develop this experience, we’ve decided to pause this project,

“This will 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.”

According to reports Facebook have controversially looked at the possibility of targeting children younger than four years old too.


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Alex
Written by

Alex Glenn

Originally from the UK, Alex is based in Almeria and is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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