Facebook planned teen-only app 'Bell' but never released it, filings show

New court documents suggest that in 2018 Facebook explored launching a separate social network for teenagers centred on their high schools.

According to a report by NBC News, the proposed app, called Bell, would have allowed students to communicate only with classmates from their own school.

Internal contents filed in federal court show the platform was designed as a hub where teenagers could discuss sports teams, organise events and chat about school life.

The partially taken presentation from April 2018 outlines features including 'messaging across a school community, class or club group chats similar to tools used on workplace platforms, and anonymous confession posts inspired by earlier social apps.'

The plans also suggested integration with education tools such as Google Classroom.

Although Bell was never launched, the documents indicate how important younger users were to the company’s long-term strategy, with a focus on attracting people before they turned 18 and keeping them on its services over time.

A spokesperson for Meta, which now owns Facebook, said the app was only an early exploratory idea and would have relied heavily on moderation teams to manage content.

The spokesperson did not explain why the project was shelved.

The plans surfaced as part of evidence submitted in a broad lawsuit against several major social media companies, including Google, ByteDance and Snap.

Hundreds of families, school districts and 33 US state attorneys general allege the firms designed addictive platforms and promoted them to minors despite research pointing to potential harm to children’s mental health, the report added.