MSNBC "All In with Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Richard Blumenthal

Interview

HAYES: Yes, so exactly. The point is that the existence of finstas, the ability to create different accounts for 13-year-olds is actually a point of important regulatory emphasis, one the senator very clearly understands.

And Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut joins me now. Senator, explained to me the regulatory concern here, you`ve got, you know, 13-year- olds, 14-year-olds, who can get an Instagram, and can also create accounts that, understandably, because they`re 14, they don`t want their parents to watch through -- you know, they could have one user with a whole bunch of accounts. Why is that a concern to U.S. senator, why do you ask that question and go down that line of inquiry?

BLUMENTHAL: Chris, you know, I took a little bit of ribbing online, the internet had a laugh, my kids had a laugh, I have a laugh. But there`s really something deadly serious here as you have just stated.

Facebook did studies, they did the research, they had findings and recommendations that showed how deeply destructive Instagram can be in eating disorders, online bullying, self-injury, even suicide.

And Instagram provides a means for those children 13 and 14-year-olds to completely avoid any parental oversight or help.

And so, the thrust of my questions was that essentially, Facebook ought to be helping parents to protect their children.

But second, there`s another serious point here, which is that Facebook`s growth, its metrics consist of numbers of users, that`s the way it raises its stock level, the way it sells to advertisers.

And so, Facebook essentially is making money by exploiting kids` vulnerabilities. And we know as parents, anybody who`s had teenage children and mine are four, beyond the teenage years. Now, these years are the most vulnerable in terms of self-image and susceptibility to doubt, and negative images of oneself.

So, I think that what we need here is stronger intervention to protect those kids and help their parents.

HAYES: Yes, the point here, I just want to -- in case (INAUDIBLE) the point you`re making, which is really interesting and important one is that the amount of accounts, the amount of Instagram handles is the growth metric. And so, a single teenager with four or five accounts is good for Instagram, they are incentivizing the ability to do that, because that is part of their growth, like they want those numbers to go up as high as possible even if parents are saying no, we should be able to have is like one actual identified account for our actual kid and not have them anonymously swimming through the world of Instagram.

BLUMENTHAL: Exactly right, Chris. And not only were they profiting from the destruction of kids` self-image and creating these vulnerabilities or exacerbating them. And the perfect storm, as one of their studies calls it, but they also concealed it. And there is a striking parallel here to big tobacco, I sued big tobacco, I`ve led the litigation among states against big tobacco.

And I remember well, that moment when we learned that big tobacco had done the research, showing that its products were toxic, and addictive, despite its denials. And I felt the same sensation here when I learned of these documents brought to us by the Wall Street Journal, but to us my office by a whistleblower, and that whistleblower will be testifying on Tuesday.

HAYES: Oh, wow. So, you have another hearing on Tuesday?

BLUMENTHAL: There`s another hearing on Tuesday, and we`re going to have more tech platforms come to talk to us in formal hearings because these phenomena is not limited to Facebook. The profiting from harm to children is more prevalent than a lot of parents and many others realize.

HAYES: Senator Richard Blumenthal, we`ll have you back to talk about your new legislative proposal to ban thirst traps next time you`re on, OK?

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

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