Facebook Inc. launched a new section on its Parents Portal today called Parent Conversations, where the social media giant will have doctors, academics and other experts weigh in on the impact of social media and technology on kids.

Facebook made its announcement as part of Safer Internet Day, an annual event sponsored by the European Commission to raise awareness of “emerging online issues” such as cyberbullying. The theme for this year’s event is “Create, connect and share respect: A better internet starts with you,” which calls on “every stakeholder to play their part in creating a better internet for everyone, in particular the youngest users out there.”

“As a company that reaches people around the world, we’re taking this call to action to heart,” Antigone Davis, Facebook’s Global Head of Safety, said in a blog post.

According to Davis, Facebook believes that the best way to keep kids safe online is to give parents more information and control. She noted that this belief guided the development of Messenger Kids, Facebook’s chat app for children, which allows parents to control who their kids can talk to.

Davis conceded that it can be overwhelming to raise kids in a digital world, which is why Facebook is launching Parent Conversations as a place where parents can “find the latest information from child development experts, academics, thought leaders and people at Facebook about topics related to kids and technology.” The new section will include blog posts, Q&As, videos and other content from experts, as well as polls for parents to voice their own opinions on different topics.

Only pro-Facebook experts allowed?

Parent Conversations already has a few posts from experts, but none of them look particularly new at the moment. One of the most recent posts is an article from December discussing whether or not parents should let their children ue Messenger Kids. Written by Michael Rich, a pediatrician at the Center on Media and Child Health at Boston Children’s Hospital, the article reassures parents that there is nothing inherently wrong with Messenger Kids.

Rich even suggested in the article that Messenger Kids could be beneficial for children, but he added that “the app is only half of the equation” and that parents must take an active role in monitoring their children and teaching them how to use social media responsibly.

It is probably not a coincidence that the first expert article on Facebook’s Parent Conversations page echos its own defense of social media, which is that “it really comes down to how you use the technology.” Facebook’s new section also has several other expert articles about Messenger Kids that make similar arguments. There do not appear to be any articles that offer a differing opinion that social media might be harmful to children, but there are plenty of doctors and academics who hold that view.

The Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood published an open letter last month that was signed by about 100 child development experts, who called on Facebook to shut down Messenger Kids. “Given Facebook’s enormous reach and marketing prowess, Messenger Kids will likely be the first social media platform widely used by elementary school children,” the letter said. “But a growing body of research demonstrates that excessive use of digital devices and social media is harmful to children and teens, making it very likely this new app will undermine children’s healthy development.”

Rich defended Messenger Kids in an interview with Forbes. “Rather than ignoring the reality that they are on social media under the age of 13 and taking a draconian, Luddite approach, which has never worked and will not work, we are trying to facilitate safer use of these tools by children and more involved parenting in the digital space,” he wrote. It is worth mentioning that Rich’s colleague, CMCH Content Strategist Kristelle Lavallee, served on Facebook’s advisory board for the development of Messenger Kids.

Photo: Facebook