Richard Blumenthal
(Picture: Buzzfeed)A US Senator appeared to misunderstood the concept of ‘Finsta’ and it is pretty hilarious.
Speaking during a Senate hearing about how Facebook impacts teenagers’ mental health, senator Richard Blumenthal pressed the company’s global head of safety Antigone Davis on whether they had plans to “end” these types of account, but revealed he really didn’t quite know much about the term.
During a Senate hearing, Facebook safety chief explains to Sen. Blumenthal that Finsta is slang for a fake account.
— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) September 30, 2021
The hearing follows reports that the platform knew of mental health harm to teens https://t.co/J7f4BJktZB pic.twitter.com/gesXv02qKC
“Will you commit to ending Finsta?” he said
“We don’t actually do Finsta,” Davis replied. “What Finsta refers to is young people setting up accounts where they may want to have more privacy. You refer to it as privacy from their parents.
“In my interactions from teens what I’ve found is that they sometimes like to have an account where they can interact just with a smaller group of friends.”
But Blumenthal clearly didn’t grasp the concept. “Finsta is one of your products or services we’re not talking about Google or Apple it’s Facebook, correct?” he said.
Kind of.
“Finsta is slang for a type of account,” Davis said.
“Will you end that type of account?” Blumenthal repeated.
“I’m not sure I understand exactly what you’re asking,” Davis replied.
Reacting to the clip, people found it hilarious:
The funniest thing I've seen today.#Finsta https://t.co/j2VV4xDFeY
— Fully Vaccinated Michelle Marie 🍁 (@marie48021) October 1, 2021
What happens when Grandad starts asking about social media. https://t.co/Hj06D89oXL
— Darren Pinder (@dmpinder) October 1, 2021
Well this is embarrassing for the senator. https://t.co/EmQZsq3O0v
— 🦦hyacinth 🌶🌶 (@thisishyacinth) October 1, 2021
I'm not sure he understood his question
— chundygunderson (@chundygunderson) September 30, 2021
Elsewhere in the hearing, Blumenthal accurately described Finsta as secret second accounts that teens use to evade parental scrutiny. However, he seemed to think that these were actual features used by the company rather than a trend started by young people as a joke.
Here Senator Blumenthal perfectly explains what "finstas" are (fake instas). He's seen documents from the FB whistleblower which indicates FB sees a business proposition in users creating second, private accounts sometimes without the knowledge of parents. THIS IS IMPORTANT. pic.twitter.com/bpH2FU7cQw
— Zamaan Qureshi (@zamaan_qureshi) September 30, 2021
The hearing examined how Instagram affects mental health following the publication of a series of leaked internal documents by the Wall Street Journal suggesting that the could negatively impact body image and self-esteem.
“Children and teens face immense peer pressure and social expectations to broadcast their lives online,” the subcommittee said in a statement announcing the hearing, adding that it would specifically be exploring the Facebook research exposed by the Journal report and “policy considerations to safeguard kids online”.
Looks like Blumenthal could have done a bit more research.
