What is a Finsta and How Dangerous is it?

INSTAGRAM is one of America’s most popular social media accounts that allow users to share photos and videos.

On September 30, 2021, Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal called upon Facebook, which owns Instagram, to crack down on the platform “Finsta” accounts.

What is a Finsta?

Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal released a series of bombshell reports that implied that Facebook had created a “toxic” environment for teenagers through their app.

On September 30, Facebook’s safety chief, Antigone Davis, was grilled on Capitol Hill during a hearing in which Sen. Blumenthal brought up the platform fake accounts, often referred to as Finsta’s.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a Finsta as “an account made so that a user can post images and interact with other accounts more intimately, usually reserving the account’s followers to close friends.”

Sen. Blumenthal had expressed concerns for these accounts, seeming to suggest that they are official products made by Facebook and not something created by users, to which he then asked if the company would “commit to ending Finsta’s.”

“Finstas is not something that we built,” Davis said. “[But] based on what we’ve seen from teen’s usage, we’ve [Finsta accounts] additional privacy options to address those kinds of issues where they want more privacy so they can have more.”

Despite Davis’ response, Blumenthal still seemed dissatisfied.

“I don’t think that’s an answer to my question,” Blumenthal added.

Is Instagram “toxic” for teenage girls?

Just weeks before Facebook’s questioning on Capitol Hill, The Wall Street Journal published a story that claims that the platform is toxic for teenage girls based on company documents.

“Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse,” Instagram researchers said via The Wall Street Journal. “Comparisons on Instagram can change how young women view and describe themselves.”

In March of 2021, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had previously sat down at a congressional hearing defending the company against criticism from lawmakers and even announced the idea of a kid’s version of the platform for those under the age of 13. However, the idea has since been put on hold.

Despite this, allegations have been made that the social media platform over-sexualizes explicitly girls, which weighs on the mental health of the app’s users.

“What girls often see on social media are girls with slimmer waists, bigger butts, and hips, and it can lead them to have body image issues,” Shevon Jones, a licensed clinical social worker based in Atlanta, told the WSJ. “It’s a very critical time, and they are trying to figure out themselves and everything around them.”

Earlier this year, the app had also been accused of fulling a 70% rise in child grooming.

In an attempt to fix this, lawmakers are calling upon Facebook to make significant changes to their network to prevent damaging the mental health of its teenage users, starting with ending Finsta’s.