Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
When video of a congressional hearing goes viral, it’s often for all of the wrong reasons. Thursday’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing into the mental health effects of Instagram on teenagers was no different.
A clip of Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) went viral on Twitter Thursday, contextless, asking Facebook Head of Global Safety Antigone Davis if the company would “commit to ending finsta?” A seemingly absurd and laughable question to anyone under the age of 30. A “finsta” isn’t a Facebook or Instagram product; it’s a slang term used by younger users to describe a secondary shitposting account not beholden to the perfection expectations of one’s primary account and grid. There are no Lightroom Presets gleaning over a finsta post, and…
