Young people who say “addictive” and “dangerous” social media algorithms damaged their mental health gathered to protest protest outside Meta’s London headquarters on Wednesday morning.
Organised by the charity Mad Youth Organise, the demonstration called on the government to crack down on big tech’s power. It comes just days after MPs rejected a proposed blanket ban on social media for under-16s, opting instead to give additional, more flexible powers to ministers following a consultation.
The group agrees a social media ban is not the answer. Unveiling a billboard with the words “The youth mental health crisis - sponsored by Meta”, they are instead demanding a four per cent “misery tax” to be imposed onto the UK revenue of tech corporations, and for the money to be fed back into positive action through mental health services and the creation of new, community-led platforms.
The group point out that there are currently more than 550,000 children and young people on waiting lists for mental health treatment in England, according to recent NHS data. They say social media has its part to play in this.
Diarmaid McDonald, the director of Just Treatment, the campaign group behind Mad Youth Organise, said the protest was organised to “recognise the critical role social media is playing in undermining people’s health”.
“We think that every firm that is culpable for this youth mental health crisis across multiple industries should be paying a four per cent tax to finance a huge scale up in services,” he explained. “It's about trying not to have a knee-jerk reaction to this really important problem and implementing a solution that isn’t going to fix it and is going to make other problems worse.”
One protester, Chloe Yates, 27, was just 11 when she first started using social media. She believes she was already addicted by the time she was 15, and began to struggle with her mental health. At the same time, she says she was starting to be served more extreme content on her feeds, which she said acted as an “accelerator” for her illness.
“I wasn’t seeking it out,” she said. “Maybe one popped up and I looked at it. Then very quickly it became fed to me.”
She said her social media use fed her “violent” messages and thoughts that were not her own originally, including suicidal ideation and self harm intention, as well as specific methods to act on them.
Ms Yates believes the “unregulated” slew of extreme content she was able to view directly contributed to her diagnosis of anxiety and depression and admission to a psychiatric ward aged 15.
“There is definitely a clear link for me,” she said. “It was like accessing a free slope, and it was a massive accelerator because it introduced me to dangerous and sinister concepts that I didn’t know about before.”
Hannah Hunt, 27, also says she was sucked into a world of extreme and dangerous content through social media in her early teens. Diagnosed with anorexia aged 14, she believes “pro-ana” and “thinspo” feeds fuelled her restrictive thoughts and behaviours.
“I made the accounts just for talking to friends, but within not long my feed because a pretty toxic place,” she told The Independent. “I was served image after image of underweight women and saw people sharing weight loss tops and encouraging each other.
“That’s such a formative time in your life and your brain is so impressionable. So met with this barrage of content that is so damaging at that age, the collision, that fuelled the eating disorder.”
She added: “It was a blueprint of self-destruction.”
Ms Hunt was admitted to hospital for treatment aged 16 and said she had to make significant efforts to stop using the platforms in her recovery.
Both women said they believe the problem is even worse for teens today. “If you go onto one slightly sinister post, it becomes your whole feed,” Ms Yates said. “I think that it is actually more dangerous now than it was ten years ago.”
“The algorithms work even quicker now,” Ms Hunt added. “They’ve worked out how to make their money, and that’s by keeping people online.”
But they agreed a social media ban isn’t the right way of tackling the problem. “Social media isn't inherently bad,” Ms Hunt said.
“It can be a place for like connection and community, particularly for marginalised groups, like queer communities. The internet is really important for us staying connected, but that's if it's built, in a way that serves young people and serves us.”
She added the harms of social media “don’t go away at 16”, and that the onus instead should be on platforms to change their “harmful” practices.
Ms Yates said she believes the government’s consultation is “positive” but that any outcomes must hold platforms to account, rather than users.
It comes as Meta faces legal action in the US accused of deliberately addicting and harming children through their platforms. The case, which is being closely watched around the world, is seen as a bellwether trial that could open the floodgates for similar lawsuits if successful.
Meta has been contacted for comment.
If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branchIf you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call or text 988, or visit 988lifeline.org to access online chat from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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