[polemic]

Messenger Kids was a pragmatic effort by Meta to improve safety on the Messenger platform. It works well, and it looks to me like Instagram Teen accounts is a similar effort. You can bemoan the effects of social media or whether teens should be there but the teens are there, so credit to Meta for making a serious investment.

Always lacking in these conversations is a proper definition of "social media". Kids want to talk to their friends, many want to be social, so if we're going to talk about the dangers of social media we need to be specific. E.g. the problems with algorythmic content are entirely different to the issues of bullying and inappropriate direct messaging. Conflating them under a "social media is bad" banner doesn't help us build healthier, safer systems.

[7e]

The teens are there because Meta hooked them and brought them there. No credit to Meta at all.