Facebook research slide first leaked by WSJ
In the news release, Facebook went through WSJ‘s accusatory statements one by one, breaking them down in an effort to debunk them and prove that the actual company-internal research produced far less foreboding results than the journal made it seem.
Facebook elaborates that there was one exception to this statistic, and that was in the sphere of body image. One in three girls who said they already struggled in this area (not 30% of all girls, as WSJ quoted), claimed that they were affected negatively by Instagram.
The original WSJ article also brought to light research showing it was not only teen girls’ body image that was being damaged by the media platform, but teenaged boys’ as well—namely 40% of those surveyed.
Facebook’s response to this was, once again, that the main information had been omitted. Allegedly, the majority of teen boys—namely 50% of the US participants—actually experienced an improvement in self image when they browsed Instagram. 18% of this group emphasized that when they were on Instagram, they actually felt “much bеtter” about themselves.
According to Facebook, these results from the survey point to Instagram actually helping fix issues such as eating disorders, anxiety, or depression, rather than worsening them.
Facebook goes on to say that the information WSJ omitted revealed that 8 out of 10 US teens who use Instagram said Instagram either improved their self image, or had no effect whatsoever on them.
For the record, Facebook still hasn’t come forward to reveal any of the research it has produced over the years, other than what was already leaked by WSJ two weeks ago.
Despite its protestations, Facebook has been called to account for the accusations called out against the social media giant by WSJ. On September 30, its global head of safety Antigone Davis will be facing the Senate Commerce Subcommittee to discuss and provide answers to the concerning research that has been unearthed.
