Lawmakers urge Facebook not to create Instagram platform for children

Mollie Suarez has three kids. Her youngest, Hunter, is 11. “I have a phone and I have Instagram,” he said. She signed him up. He also has TikTok, Snapchat and Discord. “I normally just post fishing and then sometimes when I’m bored, I just scroll around and see what my friends are doing on it,” he said. She didn’t make the decision lightly and she monitors what he’s doing and who he is talking to on Instagram and other social media apps, too. “I also think that it’s inevitable that the child will eventually be in this world. And so equipping them now, early, with the right concepts about it, tools, and just conversations about it, I think, is helpful,” she said. On the flipside is mom Carrie Singh. She has two boys and lets them use a chess gaming app with privacy controls in place.  Would she let them use social media apps tailored to children?  “No way. No thanks. Not in the house,” she said. “What you see on Instagram and Facebook isn’t real. Everyone’s giving the highlights of their, you know, life and these filtered pictures and you know, ‘I’m living the best life’ and these kids…
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