Online harms are ‘severe and systemic’, committee warns
The Education Select Committee has called for a statutory ban on social media for children, alongside urgent action to curb features it says are deliberately designed to drive excessive screen use among children and young people.
In a report setting out the Committee’s response to the Government’s consultation on ‘Growing up in the online world’ (which closes on 26 May), MPs argue that social media companies and other platforms have not demonstrated enough accountability for the harms children experience on their platforms and raise concerns that these platforms prioritise engagement over child safety. The Committee’s report states that online harms affecting children are ‘severe and systemic’ and are linked to serious deteriorations in mental health, wellbeing and behaviour, sometimes with tragic consequences. They say these harms are not accidental or isolated but occur because of platform design choices such as algorithmic recommendations or infinite scrolling.
The MPs argue there is a ‘compelling case’ for an outright statutory ban on social media access for under-16s, as well as recommending that the government introduces mandatory restrictions for under-18s on ‘high-risk and addictive design features’, such as infinite scrolling, disappearing messages and algorithmic messages. They also want to see schools required to either adopt ‘phone-free’ or ‘lock-away’ policies for mobile phones, with funding provided for the latter. They urge the government to publish detailed guidance on exemptions to the phone free policy, for example, for children who have smartphone enabled assistive technology or who are young carers.
Chair of the Education Committee, Helen Hayes MP, said that ministers ‘must take action before it’s too late’, arguing: ‘From bullying and misogyny to abuse and sexual exploitation, children and young people growing up today face a deluge of serious harms whenever they log on to social media. The same platforms that connect them to their friends, or introduce them to new hobbies, are putting their mental health and wellbeing at risk. In the most extreme cases, inaction can have truly horrific consequences. Yet social media companies have not taken full responsibility for the behaviour on their platforms. Based on the evidence my Committee has received, I simply do not believe that companies who profit from interactions with children can be relied upon to self-regulate.’
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, commented: ‘For too long children have been exposed to harmful content that is pushed to them by algorithms created to profit social-media companies. On a daily basis they are viewing material promoting self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, misogyny and sexual exploitation. It is welcome that this is being recognised by the Education Select Committee, who agree that these harms are not accidental but are purposely caused by design choices. Currently it falls on teachers, parents and other youth workers to have to deal with the consequences. We agree with the committee that a rebalancing of this is vital, and schools cannot be left to counter unsafe digital platforms alone. This cross-party committee agrees with teachers, parents and civil society groups that a statutory ban on the use of social media platforms for children under the age of 16 is necessary. It is time for the Government to listen to these calls and act. They must raise the age to 16.’
In a separate report, also published this week, Ofcom have said they will step up scrutiny of TikTok and YouTube, after they failed the set out how they will make their feeds safer for children. The report, which examines how major platforms have responded to Ofcom’s demands in March to urgently strengthen protections for children online, found TikTok and YouTube ‘failed to commit to any significant changes to reduce harmful content being served to children, maintaining their feeds are already safe for children,’ adding: ‘Our wealth of evidence, published today, suggests they are still not safe enough’. Ofcom has also published a report in to children’s online experiences, which found that nearly three-quarters of 11 to 17 year olds said they had seen harmful content online. Meanwhile the proportion of 8 to 12 year olds who said they use at least one online service with a minimum age of at least 13 stands at 90 per cent, driven by YouTube (63 per cent), WhatsApp (52 per cent) and TikTok (45 per cent).