Instagram feared losing its teenage users, revealed by internal memo

According to a New York Times report, Instagram was deeply concerned about the loss of a huge number of teenage users approximately a year ago, so it decided to devote a significant percentage of its marketing budget to them. One company memo said, "If we lose the teen foothold in the U.S. we lose the pipeline."

According to the report, in 2018 Facebook focused its advertising spending on its teens on Instagram. Facebook received negative media attention earlier this month after a former product engineer named Frances Haugen leaked documents to The Wall Street Journal. According to these documents, Facebook's own researchers knew that Instagram is harmful to its young users, particularly teenage girls who can get depressed, anxious, or develop body-image issues because of using the program.

Facebook claims that the media and the public are misinterpreting its studies. According to the report, kids profited from their use of Instagram. Teens told the company's researchers that they use the app when they are coping with the types of hard times and difficulties that teenagers have always faced.

However, New York Times indicates that from 2018 most of the expenses from the annual marketing budget of Instagram were spent on messages to teenagers.

A Facebook spokesman said, 

While it's not true that we focus our entire marketing budget towards teens, we've said many times that teens are one of our most important communities because they spot and set early trends. It shouldn't come as a surprise that they are a part of our marketing strategy.