Instagram has announced that it will pause the launch of its platform for under 13s.

The social media company said that it wanted to work with parents, experts, and policymakers to “demonstrate the need for this product.”

The move follows a report by the Wall Street Journal published earlier this month, which claimed it had seen leaked documents that reveal Instagram-owner Facebook is aware that the platform is “toxic for teenage girls.”

But over the weekend Pratiti Raychoudhury, head of research at the social media company, hit back at the claims, saying that they were “simply not accurate.”

She added that Facebook research shows that on 11 of 12 well-being issues, teenage girls who said they struggled with those difficult issues also said that Instagram made them better rather than worse.

In April, the Campaign for a Commercial-free Childhood wrote to Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg to urge him to cancel plans to launch the version of Instagram for children. The letter, signed by 99 groups and individuals, suggested that the platform would put “young users at great risk.”

Instagram said that it started the project to address the issue of kids getting phones at a younger age, misrepresenting their age, and downloading apps that are meant for those 13 or older.

“We firmly believe that it’s better for parents to have the option to give their children access to a version of Instagram that is designed for them — where parents can supervise and control their experience — than relying on an app’s ability to verify the age of kids who are too young to have an ID,” wrote Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, in a recent blog post.

The company further defended its plans by saying that it has been developing a way for parents to supervise their child’s use of Instagram.

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