Instagram's short videos, Reels, can sometimes feed teenagers a barrage of clips involving latex dolls, cropped shirts and dating app advertisements, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation, a mix of content that has angered some advertisers and could add fuel to lawmakers' and parents' concerns about children and young adults on the app.
Meta criticized the Journal's report, and said test accounts that publications set up to examine Reels create a 'manufactured experience' that doesn't reflect what real users actually see.
Meanwhile, Instagram as a whole has been dogged by criticism from observers, lawmakers and former employees that it doesn't do enough to safeguard children on its platform. The issue entered the spotlight after Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen leaked internal documents to the Journal in 2021 that showed Instagram knew about the problem but didn't act. Since then, it has become a major talking point in Congressional testimony, and sits at the center of a major litigation filed last month against Meta by nearly three dozen state attorneys general.
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