Screen Time and Social Media

Status / emerging findings

• Meta's Instagram safety measures are largely ineffective: two-thirds are non-triggerable, and 50% of girls aged 13–17 encounter suicide and self-harm content weekly despite platform claims of algorithmic improvements
• Australia's age 16+ ban achieved only 60% compliance; 50% of users felt no safer, indicating legislative bans alone cannot work without enforcement mechanisms and regulatory sanctions
• TikTok faces systematic child sexual exploitation: police investigation found hundreds of accounts dedicated to child sexualisation; TikTok required external alerts to remove content on its own platform
• Child safety advocates divided on solutions: Esther Ghey (Brianna Ghey Legacy Project) calls for statutory age 16 minimum; NSPCC (Rani Govender) advocates risk-based restrictions and design controls as more pragmatic
• Platforms have introduced optional teen features (1-hour screen caps, 9pm curfews, parental controls) but none are mandatory; age verification remains unsolved across the industry

Why it matters

The committee's findings will directly shape whether the government legislates age restrictions, design standards, or enforcement powers—affecting what 8+ million UK children can access and how social platforms operate.

Tone arc

Started procedural (government consultation response) but shifted sharply adversarial after platform evidence sessions revealed systematic gaps between safety claims and lived harm, hardening into detailed scrutiny of Australia's failed ban and competing regulatory philosophies.

Key witnesses

Esther Ghey (Brianna Ghey Legacy Project), Andy Burrows (Molly Rose Foundation), Rani Govender (NSPCC), Rebecca Stimson (TikTok), Laura Higgins (Meta), Alistair Law (Roblox), Pete Etchells (academic, screen time), Amy Orben (academic, digital wellbeing)