A group of organizations made up of educators, health experts and educators is calling on Facebook to stop releasing Messenger Kids.
The organizations sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg asking the company to suspend the release of Messenger Kids and let the kids enjoy their childhood.
If you do not know it, Messenger Kids is a version of Facebook Messenger aimed at children aged six (!) to twelve. Through the app, their parents are in control, choosing who can be friends with their children. The "revolutionary" application also allows parents to see exactly what is happening during the conversations.
However, the app still allows Facebook to children.
As soon as the application was announced, parents were concerned that Facebook is targeting young children.
According to the Washington Post, this concern has been accumulated in a letter from The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), with the support of many other organizations.
In the letter (PDF) CCFC and its supporters call on Facebook to "stop Messenger Kids", arguing that excessive use of digital devices and social media is harmful to children and adolescents, as this new application is likely to undermine healthy development".
The letter also states that the children "are not old enough to begin their tour of the intricacies of online relationships" and "have not fully developed their understanding of privacy."
Recent studies, which show how the use of social media can negatively affect children in a variety of ways, are mentioned.
Facebook, however, is reportedly already responding, saying in various publications that it is not planning to stop Messenger Kids.
Facebook says it has tried to make sure that Messenger Kids is as innocuous as possible.
However, according to parents, it is still an application designed to connect children from the age of six on the internet.
Would you let your kids start using Messenger Kids at such an age?
