Facebook is developing a version of Instagram for kids under the age of 13 — the latest attempt by the tech giant to get their products into the hands of a new generation.
The new offering was announced internally to Facebook employees Thursday, Bloomberg reported.
Instagram was acquired by Facebook for $ 1 billion almost a decade ago and since then become one of the world’s most popular social media networks.
“Increasingly kids are asking their parents if they can join apps that help them keep up with their friends,” Facebook spokesman Joe Osborne tweeted after news of the company’s venture broke.
“Right now there aren’t many options for parents, so we’re working on building additional products — like we did with Messenger Kids — that are suitable for kids, managed by parents.”
Messenger Kids — a partner product to Facebook Messenger — was released in 2017 as a way for parents to maintain greater control over who their child talks to.
“We’re exploring bringing a parent-controlled experience to Instagram to help kids keep up with their friends, discover new hobbies and interests, and more,” Instagram later announced in a blog post.
“Protecting young people on Instagram is important to us. We want parents to have the information to help their teens have a safe and positive experience on Instagram.”
The news was greeted with negative reviews as some felt that the app would violate children’s privacy and diminish the child’s mental health.
“We don’t just give stuff to kids because they WANT it. We don’t give kids dangerous tools to play with when grownups haven’t figured out how to make those tools safe.” tweeted @mollysmcdonough.