Facebook has kept internal research secret for two years that suggests its Instagram app makes body image issues worse for teenage girls, according to a leak from the tech firm.
Since at least 2019, staff at the company have been studying the impact of their product on its younger users’ states of mind. Their research has repeatedly found that it is harmful for a large proportion, and particularly teenage girls.
“We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls,” said a slide from one internal presentation in 2019, seen by the Wall Street Journal.
Photo: Reuters 照片：路透
Comprised of findings from focus groups, online surveys and diary studies in 2019 and 2020, the Instagram research shows for the first time how aware the company is of its product’s impact on the mental health of teenagers. And yet, in public, executives at Facebook, which has owned Instagram since 2012, have consistently downplayed its negative impact on teenagers.
Pressure to share only the best moments and to look perfect could pitch teenagers into depression, low self-esteem and eating disorders, said one internal report.
A spokesperson for 5Rights Foundation, which campaigns for changes to digital services to make them more suitable for children and young people, said: “Facebook’s own research is a devastating indictment of the carelessness with which it, and the tech sector more broadly, treats children.
“In pursuit of profit, these companies are stealing children’s time, self-esteem and mental health, and sometimes tragically their lives … This is an entirely human-made world, largely privately owned, designed to optimize for commercial purposes — it does not have to be like this. It is time to optimize for the safety, rights and wellbeing of kids first — and then, only then — profit.”
(The Guardian)
根據所洩漏之科技公司臉書密件，該公司旗下之Instagram 應用程式，讓少女對身體形象問題更加擔憂。臉書已經將此內部研究保密了兩年。
起碼自二○一九年起，該公司員工就在研究其產品對年輕用戶心理狀態之影響。其研究一再發現它對很多人有害，尤其是少女。
「三個少女中，就有一個因為我們的產品而加劇了對身體形象的擔憂」，華爾街日報所掌握的二○一九年該公司內部簡報中一張投影片顯示。
此項Instagram之研究，為二○一九及二○二○年所進行的焦點團體訪談、線上調查與日誌研究之結果，首次顯露該公司非常明白其產品對青少年心理健康所造成之衝擊。但在公開場合，自二○一二年已將Instagram收編旗下的臉書公司，其高級主管一直在淡化Instagram對青少年的負面影響。
一份內部報告寫道，只分享最佳時刻及看起來完美，這種壓力可能會使青少年陷入憂鬱、自卑和飲食失調症的境地。
致力於改變數位服務，使其更適合兒童及少年的5Rights基金會，其發言人表示：「臉書公司自己的研究，是對該公司及更廣泛的科技業對兒童草菅人命的最嚴厲控訴」。
「為了追求利潤，這些公司正竊取兒童的時間、自尊和心理健康，有時可悲地甚至是他們的生命......這是一個完全人造的世界，大部分是私有的，旨在極大化商業利潤——它可以不必如此。現在該把兒童安全、權利及福祉擺在第一位了——只有做到了這點，才能去考慮獲利」。
（台北時報林俐凱編譯）
There were 127,350 measles cases reported in Europe and Central Asia last year, double the number of cases reported the previous year and the highest number since 1997, an analysis by the WHO and UNICEF showed. Measles outbreaks in West Texas and New Mexico in the US are now up to more than 250 cases, and two unvaccinated people have died from measles-related causes. Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that is airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It is preventable through vaccines, and was considered eliminated from the US since 2000. In the US,
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