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““Will you commit to ending finsta?” ”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal asked that of Facebook’s
FB,
global head of safety, Antigone Davis, during a Senate hearing on Thursday about platform’s effect on young people’s mental health.
The question threw Davis for a loop, as “finstas” — which stands for “fake Instagrams” — aren’t exactly a product the company has control over. The word is slang for a kind of account users make, and usually keep on private, to document their lives in a less-produced manner for a smaller, controlled audience.
“Senator, again let me explain. We don’t actually do finsta,” Davis replied. “What finsta refers to is young people setting up accounts where they want to have more privacy.”
“You refer to it as privacy from their parents, but in my interaction with teens, what I found that they sometimes like to have an account where they can interact just with a smaller group of friends,” she continued.
Blumenthal interrupted Davis, and asked whether finsta is indeed a product of Facebook, not Google or Apple.
Davis tried to clarify once more, saying “finsta is slang for a type of account.”
“OK, will you end that type of account?” Blumenthal asks yet again.
The exchange came during Thursday’s Senate commerce subcommittee (which Blumenthal chairs) hearing about Facebook’s research into the impact of its apps on young audiences. The hearing was prompted by reporting by The Wall Street Journal that revealed Facebook knew Instagram is toxic for teen-age girls.
Read more: Facebook grilled in Senate hearing on protecting kids online
The back-and-forth between Davis and Blumenthal had “finsta” trending on Twitter
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on Thursday, as users commented on the exchange.
“The first and only time I will ever feel bad for Facebook is watching this woman realize she’s going to have to explain what finsta is to a U.S. senator in a live congressional hearing. I’m not sure I could get through it,” one user tweeted.
It’s not the first time lawmakers seemed to be confused about social media as they questioned top executives. Senators also asked some odd questions of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during a 2018 congressional hearing, including Sen. Orrin Hatch asking how Facebook sustained a business model where users don’t pay for the service, prompting Zuckerberg to reply, somewhat bewildered, “Senator, we run ads.”
