Bullying emanating on social media from a device that many kids keep right by their bedsides. 鈥淐hallenges鈥� that . Violent threats to commit a massacre at an elementary school.
Social media has transformed childhood, and given the adults who work with or care for kids a litany of concerns that previous generations of educators and parents could never have imagined.
Now, many educators want to know how Meta, the company that owns some of the oldest and most popular social media platforms鈥擨nstagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp鈥攑lans to help schools handle those challenges, or even acknowledge their own role in creating them.
Many don鈥檛 feel that they鈥檝e gotten a clear answer yet.
The issue has become particularly heated since documents released last year through a whistleblower revealed that Meta conducted extensive research on the negative impact of its platforms on children鈥檚 mental health and the spread of false information, but failed to act on any of those findings.
鈥淚 do think that they owe an explanation. I think they owe it not just to the parents and the educators but to the world,鈥� said Bill Bass, the innovation coordinator for the Parkway School district in Missouri, in an interview after Meta鈥檚 head of global security, Antigone Davis, spoke to a room full of educators at the International Society for Technology in Education鈥檚 annual conference last month in New Orleans. 鈥淚 think there is a lack of trust that is inherent now鈥� between educators and social media companies, even those companies that are working to secure student data and think about student mental health.
鈥楢 whole slew of bullying that we couldn鈥檛 look at鈥�
During the ISTE panel, Davis outlined her company鈥檚 lesson plans for parents and teachers, parental management tools, and Meta鈥檚 efforts to 鈥渂uild up social learning tools within that digital literacy.鈥�
And the company has tools on its platforms to identify 鈥減otentially bullying content and to remove it if it violates our policies,鈥� Davis said. But, she added, 鈥渢here鈥檚 a whole slew of bullying that we couldn鈥檛 look at and tell what is happening.鈥�
For instance, she used the example of classmates making fun of a fellow female student鈥檚 skirt and one saying 鈥渘ice skirt鈥� in a comment on a picture. 鈥淭here鈥檚 zero way for us to know that is bullying without additional context,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淪ometimes, we can get that additional context but generally we鈥檙e not going to.鈥�
Meta has tools that allow teens鈥攁nd other users鈥� to red flag words that might be used to bully them or that they don鈥檛 want to see on their feeds.
While he was pleased to hear that Meta has teacher resources, Matthew Winter鈥攁n instructor for the Utah Education Network, which works with districts throughout the Beehive State on technology needs鈥攚ishes all prominent social media companies could somehow figure out how to give educators a tutorial on their many features so they can help kids and parents.
He wants to know, 鈥渢his is what happens on Snapchat when a kid logs in and this is what happens when they get into Instagram. This is what Instagram Live is. This is what TikTok is,鈥� he said.
Right now, 鈥渨e have to go out and explore it. We have to figure it out first.鈥� And that can be time-consuming for teachers who have a lot on their plates, he pointed out, and especially for those who are not tech savvy.
鈥楢 Band-Aid that still keeps kids in that ecosystem鈥�
Educators at ISTE pressed Davis and Jacqueline Beauchere, the global head of platform safety for Snap Inc., the company behind Snapchat, on how the companies aim to ensure the safety of kids under the age of 13, who aren鈥檛 legally allowed to use their flagship platforms but often sign up anyway.
They noticed a stark difference in their answers.
Beauchere said Snapchat just isn鈥檛 for younger users.
鈥淲e are not designed for children under the age limit,鈥� Beauchere said. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 emphasize that enough. Snap is 14 plus. Those rules are there for a reason, and they really need to be abided by.鈥�
But Davis suggested her company could find a way to safely offer younger kids access to social media platforms.
鈥淥pening the door for the ability to have some degree of much more monitored technology for younger people may be part of what we need to do,鈥� Davis said. Meta, she said, already has 鈥淢essenger Kids,鈥� a platform with what she described as stringent parental controls.
Bass found that answer 鈥渟hortsighted. I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 a solution. It鈥檚 a Band-Aid that still keeps kids in that ecosystem.鈥�
One thing Davis did not mention: Instagram for Kids. Meta was initially planning to develop a version of the social media platform for younger children, but paused its plan who, like Bass, saw it as just another way for the company to hook kids early.
And Maureen, a former teacher from Western Canada who now works for an education nonprofit but did not want to give her last name because it is not her job to speak to reporters, didn鈥檛 鈥渉ear a corporate responsibility to do something other than a business model of trying to get kids into the apps,鈥� she said in a brief interview after the panel ended. The platforms are 鈥渄oing a lot of damage to kids鈥� mental health. There are great things about social media, there are places to use it, but these corporations need to step up.鈥�
Winter, from the Utah Education Network, agreed. 鈥淚 think there needs to be a little bit more foresight [from companies] about what they put out in the future. What is it going to do to our kids?鈥�
