A new study has revealed that teenagers can encounter violent and hateful content on social media platforms within just eight minutes of creating an account. Researchers from the charity Cybersmile posed as teenagers when signing up to Instagram and TikTok and reported stumbling upon racism, misogyny, and graphic violence.
Immediate Exposure to Harmful Content
Scott Freeman, CEO of Cybersmile, told Metro that one post 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.
The study, titled Forced Deed, involved researchers creating four accounts claiming to be 15 years old and four accounts for adults. Three out of the four child accounts were exposed to racist content, while the same accounts saw media that depicted or encouraged violence. After three days of scrolling, harmful posts made up 18% of the childrens feeds, compared to 36% for adult accounts.
Examples of Disturbing Content
Among the content seen by childrens accounts was a man saying Stop the Muslim majority, and a recap of a film depicting a woman being drugged and kidnapped with the intention to rape her. One account encountered an AI-generated video that discriminated against children with Down syndrome. Adult accounts were exposed to detrimental content within 16 seconds, including posts promoting misogynistic and racist rhetoric.
The researchers scrolled on the apps for 45 minutes a day in September, never engaging with the content, which could impact the algorithms that drive what billions of users see.
Impact on Teen Wellbeing
Dr Michelle OReilly, a mental health expert at the University of Leicester, says seeing harmful content may not cause long-lasting damage but can affect wellbeing. 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 she worries about her 17-year-old daughter. 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.
School Concerns
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 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.
Questions Over Government Policy
Freeman questioned the effectiveness of government policy on keeping youngsters safe online. 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 arent 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, isnt the answer. With youth centres and the high street closing, children need a reason to go offline. Social media, Dr OReilly says, is just one part of a teenagers life. School, family and friends also play a role.
Platform Responses
Meta, which owns Instagram, told Metro that the platform has teen-friendly accounts with content settings akin to movie age ratings. Like others, we dont think bans will achieve this goal, the company says. As weve 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.
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.
