It comes as Sir Keir Starmer announced a social media ban for under-16s (Picture: Getty Images)
Teens can ‘encounter violence on social media apps in as little as eight minutes after signing up’,experts have told Metro.
As Sir Keir Starmer announces a ban on children under 16 using the platforms,researchers posing as teenagers on Instagram and TikTok claim they stumbled upon racism,misogyny and other upsetting content shortly after making underage profiles.
Scott Freeman,CEO of the charity behind the study,Cybersmile,told Metro that one of the posts included a video of a man ‘drugging a woman’.
‘We also saw a lynching being depicted,as well as graphic descriptions of violence,antisemitic and anti-Muslim hate,’ he added.
‘All of this content is pushed onto users’ feeds within minutes – sometimes seconds – of opening an account.’
Teens can be exposed to violent content within minutes of making an account (Picture: Shutterstock / Frame Stock Footage)
Researchers made four accounts saying they were 15 and four accounts for adults,according to the foundation’s ‘Forced Feed’ report.
Three out of the four child accounts were exposed to racist content,while the same three saw media that depicted or encouraged violence.
After three days of scrolling,harmful posts made up 18% of their feeds,while they made up 36% of the content seen on adult accounts.
The content shown on the children’s accounts,seen by Metro,included a man saying: ‘Stop the Muslim majority.’
Another was a recap of a film that depicted a woman being drugged and kidnapped with the intention to rape her,the report said.
One account encountered an AI-generated video that discriminated against children with Down’s syndrome.
Both children’s and adult accounts were exposed to violent,misogynistic and racist content (Picture: Shutterstock / Aleksandra Suzi)
Newly created adult accounts were exposed to detrimental content within 16 seconds.
One Instagram post from a since-deleted account said: ‘When you find out that a man had a 50% chance of being born a woman.’
‘Imagine being nerfed in strength,intelligence and IQ,’ the video added,using a video game slang for being weakened.
Meanwhile,a racist TikTok post said: ‘Welcome to Pakistan,I mean,Bradford,what a s**thole. I could smell this place from Birmingham.’
The researchers scrolled on the apps for 45 minutes a day in September,never engaging with the content,which could impact the algorithms which drive what users see.
Dr Michelle O’Reilly,a mental health expert at the University of Leicester,claims seeing harmful content may not do long-lasting damage but can impact wellbeing in the short term.
‘Part of the difficulty is that young people are often exposed to negative content in these online spaces without wanting to engage with it because of the way algorithms are set up and because of the ways in which peer groups share material,’ she adds.
Nurse Sarah Denholme-Parker told Metro that she has long worried about what her daughter,17,sees while scrolling.
‘I worry that if she starts watching TikToks on anxiety or body image,she may be led down a dangerous path,’ she says.
‘I see many teenage girls attending the emergency department… The children are getting younger,and they are coming far more frequently.’
Even a ‘little exposure’ to content that shows unattainable body standards can be detrimental for young women,according to a 2023 study.
‘My daughter’s generation has been harmed by social media,’ Sarah adds.
Most social media apps will be banned for under-16s from next year (Picture: AFP)
Pip Jones,an assistant headteacher at an all-girls secondary school in Sutton,said pupils sought advice on how to stay safe after a violent incident happened nearby.
‘Instead of reassurance,the algorithm pushed violent content related to the incident and graphic footage,including beheadings,’ Jones says.
‘They were just trying to get information – not to be exposed to harm – yet the system amplified it.’
Yet Freeman questioned just how effective government policy on keeping youngsters safe online can be.
Harmful content can still seep through the cracks of online safety laws as tech firms rely on automated filters and children outsmart age restrictions.
Rather,users should have the ‘basic right’ to control algorithms.
‘We have some of the most robust online safety laws in the world,’Freeman adds,‘but they still aren’t stopping harmful content from reaching users.’
Experts have previously told Metro that simply banning social media for teens,as the government announced today it will do,isn’t the answer.
With youth centres and the high street closing,children need a reason to go offline.
Social media,Dr O’Reilly says,is just one part of a teenager’s life. School,family and friends also play a role.
Researchers have already found that it’s less about what teens do on their phones and more about the relationship they have with them.
Freeman agrees. Not all young people feel comfortable going to parents or teachers with worries they would have preferred to go online for.
Critics say algorithms make social media addictive (Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire)
‘An immediate concern,’ he adds,‘is the risk of online harms being driven underground and out of view.’
Meta,which owns Instagram,told Metro that the platform has teen-friendly accounts with content settings akin to movie age ratings.
‘Like others,we don’t think bans will achieve this goal (of protecting young people),’ the company says.
‘As we’ve seen in Australia,bans risk isolating teens from online communities and information,and driving them to unregulated alternatives that lack built-in protections and parental controls.
‘To be both effective and easy for parents,any restrictions must be underpinned by an age verification system on devices so people aren’t asked to hand over ID to dozens of individual services to prove their age.’
TikTok similarly has various content restrictions for underage users. Its algorithm,according to a memo leaked in 2021,works to add ‘user value’ by predicting what they might be interested in.
TikTok has been approached for comment.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at .
For more stories like this,check our news page.
© OfficialAffairs
