‘More People Die:’ Instagram Boss Adam Mosseri Compares Social Media to Cars

Facebook-owned Instagram head Adam Mosseri recently appeared on the Recode Media podcast where he compared social media to cars, saying that “We know that more people die than would otherwise because of car accidents, but by and large cars create way more value in the world than they destroy. And I think social media is similar.”

Mashable reports that Instagram head Adam Mosseri recently spoke to the Recode Media podcast following the release of a series of articles from the Wall Street Journal that revealed a number of internal Facebook documents and secrets.

One such report from the WSJ claimed that Facebook is aware that its photo-sharing app Instagram can have a negative effect on the body image of young women. Facebook reportedly spoke to researchers within Instagram, which it owns, who were studying how users interacted on its platform and attempting to understand the types of universal experiences they shared.

The researchers presented their findings to Facebook which concluded that a significant number of teen girls that use the Instagram platform develop body image issues. Among the researchers’ findings are that Instagram makes body image issues worse and that teens blame the platform for an increase in anxiety and depression.

Naturally, Mosseri has been attempting to defend the negative effects of Instagram since the article was released. Speaking to Recode Media podcast host Peter Kafka, Mosseri compared the negative effect of social media to cars. He essentially attempted to claim that the cost of cars existing is that accidents will happen and people will die, and that social media is no different.

Mosseri stated: “We know that more people die than would otherwise because of car accidents, but by and large cars create way more value in the world than they destroy. And I think social media is similar.”

Kafka responded to Mosseri stated that cars are subject to a number of strict safety regulations on a federal level while Facebook and Instagram are not. Mosseri retorted that social media regulation is welcome but also potentially leads to problems, stating: “We think you have to be careful because regulation can cause more problems.”

Read more at Mashable here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com