By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 12th, 2024
Facebook stock has gained approximately 35% and 29% in the past year and YTD respectively through Monday.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) stock was down approximately 1.50% during today’s premarket. Traded around $348.26, FB stock received a huge headwind after Facebook announced in a blog that it has halted the development of “Instagram Kids” due to heavy criticism from lawmakers and parents.
“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,” Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, explained in the blog post.
Meanwhile, Mosseri noted that the firm will use the time to build opt-in parental supervision tools for teens. The firm argues that kids below the age of 13 are already online, hereby is an urgent need for a friendly application free from adult content.
Additionally, Instagram continued to argue that other companies including YouTube and TikTok have versions for those under 13 years of age.
The company, ostensibly, noted that its kids’ app was never meant for younger kids, but those between 10-12 years.
“ It will require parental permission to join, it won’t have ads, and it will have age-appropriate content and features. Parents can supervise the time their children spend on the app and oversee who can message them, who can follow them, and who they can follow,” the firm argues.
Facebook Moves to Halt Instagram Kids
Prior reports have indicated that Instagram has a negative effect on teenagers, especially girls. As a result, parents are wary of introducing time-consuming and non-constructive applications to their young children.
The move to halt the development of Instagram Kids was warmly welcomed by United States lawmakers including four Democrats. US Senator Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal were among the lawmakers to voice their support.
“Facebook has completely forfeited the benefit of the doubt when it comes to protecting young people online and it must completely abandon this project,” noted the lawmakers.
Facebook stock has gained approximately 35% and 29% in the past year and YTD respectively through Monday. However, the company’s stock market has dropped approximately 6.8%, and 1% in the past month and five days respectively through Monday according to market analytics provided by MarketWatch.
Having been rated 50 times, Facebook stock received an average rating of Over rating. As a technology-based company with a market capitalization of approximately $995.15 billion, the Facebook stock market is well-positioned to gain further in the coming quarters.
