Instagram aimed to hook users as young as 9, internal documents show

Internal documents from Meta, the parent company of Instagram, suggest a deliberate strategy to engage users as young as nine years old, contradicting the platform's stated policy of prohibiting accounts for users under 13. A 2018 document obtained during a trial on teen social media addiction revealed the company's internal goal: "To achieve a 'Big Win' in the teen market, we must bring them in when they are tweens (ages 9-12)."

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To achieve a 'Big Win' in the teen market, we must bring them in when they are tweens (ages 9-12).

Despite public claims of age restrictions, Meta's verification processes are reportedly inadequate. Users can easily create accounts by falsely stating their age, and age verification methods are often superficial. This lax approach has led to widespread use of social media by children well below the official age limit, with videos of young children introducing themselves gaining popularity.

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I don't remember (this document).

This internal strategy is coming under scrutiny as global regulators grapple with the harmful effects of social media on young people. Countries are implementing a two-pronged approach: enforcing age limits for account creation and restricting addictive features for minors. South Korea, for example, is considering a mixed system that would block users under 14 and limit addictive features for those aged 14-19.

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The company's defense relied on the argument that platforms are not legally responsible for user-generated content, protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, and that recommendation algorithms are protected as 'free speech' under the First Amendment.

However, circumventing these regulations remains a challenge. In Australia, children continue to use fake accounts to bypass age restrictions. France is exploring 'age tokens' issued through identification to verify users' ages, while California has mandated age-verification features within operating systems. These measures reflect a growing trend toward holding social media companies technically responsible for accurately identifying users' ages.

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We took a completely new approach. We argued that it wasn't the content, but the various features embedded in social media that were designed to induce addiction. This allowed us to overcome the previously robust defensive arguments.