Highlights
- British teenagers mostly oppose a social media ban despite knowing the risks.
- One in five Australian teenagers under 16 were still using social media two months after a ban.
- Experts say companies should be forced to build safer platforms rather than banning access.
Awand Khdir, 17, told Reuters he used to spend around eight hours a day on TikTok during the summer.
"Doom scrolling is an issue on its own but the content that you see sometimes, especially on TikTok, there's a lot of dodgy stuff," he said.
Joelle Azebaze Ayangma, 18, said seeing other girls on TikTok was hurting young people's confidence.
"When you see other girls on TikTok, you kind of want to look like them. And that's really crushing people's self-esteem," she said.
Teens oppose ban
Even though they knew the risks most pupils did not want a ban. Dua Arshia, 16, said restrictions could push young people towards more dangerous platforms.
Leah Osando, 17, said a ban would be very hard to enforce. "Even if children get banned they'll go onto the dark web or use a VPN," she said.
Data from Australia showed one in five teenagers under 16 were still using social media two months after the ban raising big questions about whether age restrictions actually work.
Three experts who have advised the government on child internet safety said there was no clear proof that bans work.
Professor Amy Orben from Cambridge University said social media affected every teenager differently."The online world like the offline world is very complex," she said.
Professor Sonia Livingstone from the London School of Economics said a ban was like using "a very blunt hammer to crack a nut."
She said the government should push big tech companies to make their platforms safer without cutting children off from the internet completely.
