Speaking to an audience at Facebook’s Global Safety Network Summit, the manager responsible for building Messenger Kids, Tarunya Govindarajan, said it took nudging to encourage children to use the mobile app during the testing stage, CNBC reports. To do so, Govindarajan said targeted “kid-friendly effects” were installed into the product to promote use. Despite findings from the company’s consulted experts, which concluded children were ready to use such a service, concerns have been raised that children are not ready to use Messenger Kids. Recently, a group of children’s advocates asked the company to discontinue the product, citing studies that link the heavy use of social media to negative health and developmental effects on teens.
Full Story