Facebook Slows Down Development of "Reputational Reviews" Features: Report

Facebook is slowing down the launch and development of some new products and features to make sure they don't generate more scrutiny of the company or harm children, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The "reputation criticism" comes as Facebook faces backlash from the public and lawmakers after a wave of reports citing Facebook's own research showing ways Instagram could have a negative effect on mental health. of adolescent girls. Facebook was also criticized in congressional hearings by whistleblower Frances Haugen, who shed more light on Facebook's internal investigation, as well as its business model and algorithms.

Some of Facebook's recent public statements and actions support the idea that a lot of care is being taken right now. In late September, the company announced that it was "pausing" work on a version of Instagram made for tweens, citing concerns (including those raised by The Wall Street Journal reports) that the public had about the project. In a Facebook post-Tuesday in response to the whistleblower testimony to Congress, Mark Zuckerberg said company leaders would be taking "deep dives" into their current job to get a clearer picture of how Facebook is trying to do " important contributions across safety, integrity, research and product. "

Facebook has also rejected recent reports around it and claims made by Frances Haugen. In the aforementioned post, Zuckerberg called parts of his testimony "deeply illogical" and said The Wall Street Journal reports mischaracterized the Facebook investigation (echoing comments from Instagram leader Adam Mosseri). Facebook also claimed that it banned a group of advertising transparency and misinformation researchers from its platform because they incorrectly extracted data, a justification the FTC called "inaccurate."

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on reviews added during product and feature development.