Kristelle Lavallee, content strategist at the Center on Media and Child Health at Boston Children's Hospital and a member of Facebook's Advisory Committee which helped develop Messenger Kids, said the letter highlights an 'alarmist' perspective and shows a lack of understanding of the app. 'We continue to be focused on making Messenger Kids be the best experience it can be for families.' 'Messenger Kids is a messaging app that helps parents and children to chat in a safer way, with parents always in control of their child's contacts and interactions,' Facebook said in a response to the letter. Related: Investors to Apple: Fight iPhone addiction among kidsĪ Facebook spokeswoman told CNN Tech the company has no plans to shut down the Messenger Kids app. 'Even if these safeguards are effective, the app's overall impact on families and society is likely to be negative, normalizing social media use among young children and creating peer pressure for kids to sign up for their first account,' the letter said.

However, even those steps are not enough to quell those experts' fears.

The company also put in safeguards for cyberbullying, such as the ability to flag inappropriate content and block users. to hear the major concerns about their kids using technology. Facebook's policy still requires users to be at least 13 to sign up for the main site.įacebook ( FB) said it took steps to address concerns, such as working with a committee of about a dozen experts and more than 250 online safety organizations to develop the app. In December, Facebook unveiled Messenger Kids, which lets young users talk to their friends and make video calls. In addition, the organizations said the demographic doesn't have a fully developed understanding of privacy, such as what content is appropriate to share with friends or who has access to their conversations, photos and videos. Related: Facebook unveils Messenger Kids app

'They are not old enough to navigate the complexities of online relationships, which often lead to misunderstandings and conflicts even among more mature users,' according to the letter.

Down messenger