Why we need a ban on social media for teenagers

Tim Cairns is a Senior Policy Officer for CARE (Christian Action, Research, and Education)

We all know that social media is harmful. Many of us have encountered trolls or content we did not want to read or see online. Even for adults, social media takes its toll on our mental and physical well-being. In 2024, 15,000 adults (over the age of 16) were studied to see what effects social media had on their health. The study concluded that the more a user posted, the more likely they were to have poor mental health outcomes. Adults who were able to disassociate social media and real life and view it as ‘content’ were more able to avoid negative outcomes.

If social media is harmful to over 16s and requires mental maturity to disassociate to cope with harms, how much worse is social media use for under 16s?

Most platforms require you to be over 13 to sign up (although that is honoured only in the breach). That means content that is harmful for adults is also freely available to teens who do not have the maturity or life skills to cope.

Just this week, the UK Government indicated it would legislate to have the power to follow Australia and institute a ban on under-16s accessing social media. Just last week (10th Feb), the Assembly discussed a motion proposing a ban. The debate here saw the SDLP and Sinn Féin taking nuanced positions. In short, the SDLP lamented the inability of social media to get its act together and proposed a ban; until such times as social media platforms can prove the platform is safe for kids. Sinn Féin, by contrast, proposed an amendment. In their view, children should not be penalised and forced to potentially more harmful platforms when they have done nothing wrong; social media is to blame, and they should be regulated properly rather than ban the platforms and punish children, who rely on social media.

If social media were a new tool emerging onto our smartphones today, the Sinn Féin position would seem the reasonable course to take. Sadly, over the last 20 odd years, all social media platforms, not just a select one or two, have placed profit above the safety of children. Platforms promise to do great things but rarely deliver.

One social media platform (ironically one that several of our MLAs say they still use while announcing their exit from X) installed end-to-end encryption on their messaging services. This was described by the Internet Watch Foundation as “catastrophic” for child safety. Many kids unwittingly send self-generated child sexual abuse material to people who have groomed them online. This could have been easily intercepted by the platform, but encrypting the service means it cannot be intercepted, and the platform simply washes its hands of all responsibility. Is that evidence of putting teen safety first?

Even with the advent of the Online Safety Act things have not improved. A BBC investigation at the end of last year, found that social media still pushed content about bullying, teen suicide and misogyny, as well as videos reviewing dangerous weapons and other content deemed harmful by the Online Safety Act. While age verification has limited access to porn for teens, it has not totally eliminated the risk of kids viewing pornography on social media. Opponents of a ban say it will force kids to the dark web. Right now, kids, through an app certified for a 13 year old, can access videos showing a person being killed, raped, bullied, humiliated as well as extreme misogyny. Kids don’t need the dark web; they have access to it on their phone right now.

Put simply, over two decades, social media companies have proved they cannot be trusted with our kids.
I understand that many teenagers will be devastated by a ban. Teenagers rely on their smartphones for connection, creativity, schoolwork and friendships. But while social media can be used for good, at the moment, the harm outweighs the positives.

As Cara Hunter stressed in proposing last week’s motion, banning social media is no silver bullet. As Australia has shown, it will not end the harm overnight. But, if social media is to be trusted in the future it must demonstrate its safe. A ban is essential to force big tech to act. Sadly, after 20 years of failure, a social media ban for under 16s is the only way we can ensure our children are safe, until tech companies prove our kids mean more than cash.