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The app is Facebook’s first product aimed at young children, and its foray into the kids market, the coveted demographic that could bring the social giant their next billion users.

“I’m guessing there will be a seamless path to migrate to the full Facebook and Messenger upon reaching 13,” says Richard Lachman, an associate professor at Ryerson University and director of research development for the Faculty of Communication and Design. “There is a thought that patterns you establish early on will become defaults behaviours,” which is especially true of Facebook he adds “given that it’s harder to leave a service if a critical mass of friends are already part of it.”

So, what could go wrong?

“That’s why Facebook is doing this, of course — it’s a safe way to get their brand into the family young.”

Messenger Kids won’t have any ads, nor will the data from the app be ported over to Facebook proper, so that, let’s say, parents see ads for toys or other things their kids a Messenger itself is fairly harmless, says Lachman, likening it to SMS (text messaging), which has no minimum age requirement. As a chat tool, there’s limited concern about bullying or filter bubbles or the spread of misinformation that we’ve come to expect on Facebook proper.

re talking about. According to Facebook, the app gives parents control. Only the child’s first name is required, and if a parent decides to delete the Messenger Kids account, all of the associated data will be deleted from Facebook’s servers.

But, he adds, the social networking giant “will want to use this as a gateway … more than any other social media platform, Facebook is planning on long-term and on being part of many aspects of our lives.”

After all, the platform has become one of the most valuable companies in the world, despite never charging its users a cent, by recording everything we say, do and post online, and profiting from the sale of that data. By attracting new users to Messenger Kids when they’re young, Facebook has the potential to convert them into full users of the social network as they come of age. And more users equals more profit, as simple as that.

What age is appropriate?

But while the social network is quick to point out that its new kids app requires parental permission, it also catapults them right to the centre of the debate over what age is appropriate for children to start engaging with digital tools, which is an increasingly hot topic, especially as we’ve seen the dark side of social media emerge.

The last few years have made it clear that services like Facebook are about a whole lot more than just sharing photos and taking personality quizzes; they’ve been used to sway elections and spread propaganda; they’ve fostered cyberbullying and fuelled people’s anxiety. And yet, we continue to use them anyway.

And therein lies the biggest concern about a Facebook product targeting children: Parents may give their kids permission to download the app, which requires mom or dad to use their Facebook email address and password to activate their child’s account, but is it really up to adults to grant permission when their kids don’t fully understand what they are consenting to?

Moreover, how can children truly consent to the social bargain of service-for-data, when even adults don’t seem to fully understand its magnitude?

“I think most people, adults included don’t think about surveillance, data collection, propaganda or the filter bubble. So how can someone below the age of 13 be able to make sense of these things?” says Jaigris Hodson, head of the Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies program at Royal Roads University.

She adds, “Facebook has a vested interest in gaming us and our psychology so that we are compelled to come back as much as possible and interact on the site.”

As adults — well aware of the mounting pile of evidence of how a platform like Facebook may be damaging everything from our psyches to our political processes — we continue to log in and use the service even though we may know better, because really, it’s become the best way for us to keep in touch.