Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Facebook's Ability To Harm Youths Falls Under Congressional Spotlight
CNN: Instagram Promoted Pages Glorifying Eating Disorders To Teen Accounts
"I have to be thin," "Eternally starved," "I want to be perfect." These are the names of accounts Instagram's algorithms promoted to an account registered as belonging to a 13-year-old girl who expressed interest in weight loss and dieting. Proof that Instagram is not only failing to crack down on accounts promoting extreme dieting and eating disorders, but actively promotes those accounts, comes as Instagram and its parent company Facebook (FB) are facing intense scrutiny over the impact they have on young people's mental health. (O'Sullivan, Duffy and Jorgensen, 10/4)
Roll Call: Whistleblower Testifies As Lawmakers Take Aim At Facebook Again
Congress has had little success reining in Big Tech, whether it’s curbing the spread of misinformation, stopping foreign interference in elections or breaking up monopolies. But as social media companies take aim at America’s children, apoplectic lawmakers are vowing to act. On Tuesday, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is set to hear from Frances Haugen, a former Facebook manager turned whistleblower whose explosive leaks revealed the company’s attempts to target young children on Instagram — despite knowing the app leads some teen girls to consider suicide. Instagram is owned by Facebook. (Ratnam, 10/5)
Fox Business: Facebook Whistleblower To Appear Before Senate, Compare Company To Big Tobacco
The Facebook employee who stepped forward as the source in a Wall Street Journal investigation into the social media giant will testify in front of US lawmakers on Tuesday, just a day after accusing her former employer of "tearing our societies apart." Fox Business, citing a source, reported last month that the whistleblower, who was later identified as Frances Haugen, planned to reveal their identity as part of an agreement to cooperate with Congress. Haugen is expected to appear before the Senate Commerce Committee Consumer protection panel. (10/5)
In related news about children and their mental health —
CIDRAP: Screen Time, Physical Activity Linked To Youth Mental Health In Pandemic
More screen time and suboptimal physical activity during the pandemic were linked to more mental health difficulties in US children ages 6 to 17, according to a JAMA Network Open study late last week. ... About one in five children (20.9%) had at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day, but 8.4% didn't reach that benchmark any day of the week (average, 3.9 days). Children also reported an average of 4.4 hours per day of recreational screen time. (10/4)
Thv11.Com: ER Visits For Mental Health Increase Among Teens, Children
Leading pediatric organizations are warning of a mental health crisis among teenagers and younger children during the pandemic. According to the CDC, emergency room visits for mental health issues increased 31 percent in 2020 for people ages 12 to 17. That is compared to 2019."Right now for our teens, we have a state of mental health emergency," said Dr. Buster Lackey, the executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Arkansas. (Aaron, 10/4)
