Facebooks Instagram chief uses awkward comparison with cars to defend social media harms
Summary
Adam Mosseri, the head of Facebooks Instagram service, came under a flurry of criticism on Thursday after comparing the value of social networks to society to that of cars. A Tuesday report from the series revealed that Facebook has repeatedly found that its Instagram app is harmful to a number of teenagers. Following the report, U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle demanded answers from Facebook about how its services impact the mental health of teens and children, with some calling on the company to abandon its plans to launch a kids version of Instagram. Numerous Twitter users criticized Mosseri for the comparison and pointed out that, unlike social media, the automobile industry is heavily regulated. Mosseri went on the defensive on Twitter after the wave of criticism, calling the car analogy "less than perfect" but saying that Facebook executives stand by the belief that social media connecting people does more good than bad.