The vice president who led youth product initiatives at Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is leaving after an internal restructuring, according to a company memo obtained Wednesday by The New York Times.
Pavni Diwanji, who joined in late 2020 and previously oversaw YouTube Kids at Google, “decided to move forward” after the restructuring, according to the note from Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri. Under Mr. Mosseri, Ms. Diwanji was tapped to lead the company’s “Youth Workflow”. She was responsible for developing products such as age verification and parental control tools, as well as experiences with Meta’s apps that could be used by children under the age of 13.
The most prominent of those efforts was a youth version of Instagram, which the company said it would delay in September after The Wall Street Journal reported on internal investigations that suggested some young people were experiencing negative mental health effects from the popular app. for sharing photos. Instagram leaders had argued that a youth version was needed because kids were already using the main app, while critics saw it as a means for the company to attract users at a younger age.
“Pavni has been a tremendous champion for her teams and drive for this cross-enterprise effort,” Mr Mosseri wrote in his note.
Ms Diwanji did not respond to a request for comment.
Stephanie Otway, a spokeswoman for Meta, said in a statement that the company was still “developing safe, age-appropriate experiences for teens.”
Meta has faced a storm of criticism from lawmakers over its products for children. Mr Mosseri has said that work on the children’s version of Instagram “leaked before we knew what it would be” and that the company had “few answers” for the public at the time.
In December, he testified before a Senate subcommittee on consumer protection. Lawmakers reprimanded him and the company for not doing enough to protect young people.
Mr Mosseri said in his note on Wednesday that he would continue to serve as the leader behind the youth effort, which “remains a high priority in Meta”.
“I know the teams have worked hard to ensure that youth is a key consideration in product development across the company – including in VR and Messenger – and I will continue to be an advocate of collaboration and coordination here,” he wrote.
