FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Feb. 26, 2026
Contact: Ashwin Verghese, Communications Director, [email protected], 508-263-0289
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Fairplay Executive Director Josh Golin made the following statement today:
“There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about this new tool. For one thing, Instagram is clearly making this move now because the company is currently on trial in two different states for addicting and harming kids and facing negative headline after negative headline. Announcing a new safety feature is a classic PR move, and one that Meta uses all the time. Second, as ‘Teen Accounts, Broken Promises’ shows, more often than not, Meta’s safety tools don’t work as promised, and tools built around identifying keywords are particularly ineffective.
“As for this specific tool, it doesn’t address some of the key issues with Meta’s approach to content related to self-harm and suicide. Any query from a teen about suicide should lead directly to resources. Instead, Meta not only returns search results with pro-suicide and self-harm content, it then continually barrages teens who have displayed an interest in these topics with more of these dangerous posts. According to Meta’s own research, 8.4% of teens say they were recommended self-harm content in the last week, the majority of which comes from strangers whom they are not connected to online.
“Once again, Meta is shifting the burden to parents rather than fixing the dangerous flaws in how it designs its algorithms and platforms. And all children deserve to be protected, regardless of whether their parents have enrolled in and utilize Meta’s supervision tools. If a product is not safe for teens to use without parental intervention, it shouldn’t be marketed to teens at all.
“Parents should not be fooled into thinking that Instagram is safe for their children. And lawmakers should not accept these PR stunts as a substitute for doing their jobs. The Kids Online Safety Act, which has 76 sponsors in the Senate, would hold companies like Meta accountable for their algorithms and platform design and require them to create tools that actually protect teens. It’s past time for Congress to pass the Senate version of KOSA.”
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About Fairplay
Fairplay is the leading nonprofit committed to helping children thrive in an increasingly commercialized, screen-obsessed culture, and the only organization dedicated to ending marketing to children. Fairplay works to enhance children’s well-being by eliminating the exploitative and harmful business practices of marketers and Big Tech. Learn more at www.fairplayforkids.org.