How Social Media Platforms Fail to Protect Children from Harmful Content

I instantly froze When I heard Andrew singing Cardi B’s “WAP” song. I could not believe my ears at the fact that a ten-year-old little boy was saying such explicit words. (For those who do not know what the song entails, I suggest doing a quick Google search.) I asked him where he learned this song, and he immediately responded with TikTok. I soon began to realize that after school, Andrew was on his iPad for hours, more specifically TikTok. Andrew started off his TikTok Journey making cute cringy videos you see a seven-year-old usually make. He would make dance videos, painting videos, as well as some nature videos. Starting as innocent, his videos soon took a turn with Andrew discovering new sounds and music. This is the story for many young users on TikTok, starting as an innocent video editing app, turning into children making widely inappropriate content due to TikTok’s viral trends and influencers. Social media use among children has grown increasingly high with safety concerns arising online. Despite measures to regulate content, social media platforms fail to adequately protect children from harmful material, leading to negative behavioral, psychological, and emotional effects.

The term “iPad Kid” came to exist due to Generation Alpha being raised on Technology. Children as young as four would be engrossed in their iPads to the point where they had no idea what was going on around them. Due to the high amount of screen time, children are at higher risk than never to be exposed to negative content. Doctors from The American Academy of Pediatrics analyzed how social media is affecting children and adolescents. They made some fascinating discoveries “According to a recent poll, 22% of teenagers log on to their favorite social media site more than 10 times a day, and more than half of adolescents log on to a social media site more than once a day.2 Seventy-five percent of teenagers now own cell phones, and 25% use them for social media, 54% use them for texting, and 24% use them for instant messaging.3 Thus, a large part of this generation’s social and emotional development is occurring while on the Internet and cell phones.” Due to the accessibility of most devices connecting to Wi-Fi, children are spending huge chunks of their day on their phones. Children are now more connected to social media than reality. Logging on to social media more than 10 times a day shows how they are consumed by the desire to spend as much time on social media as possible. Pediatrics also warned “Pediatricians are in a unique position to help families understand these sites and to encourage healthy use and urge parents to monitor for potential problems with cyberbullying, “Facebook depression,” sexting, and exposure to inappropriate content.” Age restriction on these apps is crucial due to the psychological harm it is causing. Children’s brains are not fully developed and there have been occasions where children could not grasp that social media isn’t real. Dangerous trends such as “Subway Surfers” is an example of this. Children are being influenced to not only interact with inappropriate content but also take part in hazardous trends. This article links is about an eleven-year-old boy who recently passed due to the “subway suffers” trend. Losing him last month is an indicator of action needed to be done to protect children. Early exposure to such heavy content alters a child’s grasp of understanding relationships, sexuality, and violence. Trends such as “subway suffers” show how children will fall victim to the latest trends.

As great as social media is with connecting users from different places around the world, it could also cause a threat, especially to a child who does not know the dangers. With children spending such a drastic amount of time on social media, they are exposed to cyberbullying. Social media platforms enable cyberbullying, which can have severe consequences for children’s mental and emotional well-being. During the COVID-19 pandemic, children were at the highest risk due to their everyday lives being switched to fully remote. In a study done by a University in South Africa, researchers found a correlation between the pandemic and an increase in cyberbullying. “The closure of schools and switch to remote learning of universities to protect youth and children from exposure to the virus might also open opportunities for certain crimes such as cyberbullying.” With further research, they found a correlation between content exposure and cyberbullying “In these platforms where young people engage, most posts and comments carried content which includes sexting, sexual comments on young girls’ pictures, trending of videos of school children fighting, and insulting each other. A significant finding was the use of fake accounts to perpetrate cyberbullying.” It is incredibly alarming that social media can expose young children to such graphic content. Young girls are getting comments by random accounts as well as children getting pulled into cyber fights in the comments section. Some extreme cases have led to Cyberbullying being the cause of death of teenagers across the U.S. Cyberbullying has a strong link with issues such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. This article highlights the worst cyberbullying cases and how social media was how they got exposed to them. If it weren’t for social media, these young souls may still be with us.

Social media foster a culture of validation through likes, followers, and comments, which impacts any user’s self-esteem. A finding from a ScienceDirect article shares one method this may look like. “Youth who actively post updates (i.e., self-oriented social media use) may position themselves to receive positive feedback and appearance confirmation and thus show enhanced self-esteem, whereas youths who mostly view and respond to other’s posts (i.e. other-oriented social media use) are exposed to these idealized presentations, while not receiving positive feedback on their appearance, which may result in reduced self-esteem.” This is where comparison starts happening. Many users (such as I) have tendencies to compare us to trends/influencers who are getting praise from thousands of comments and likes. For children, many are seeking the validation of others which can turn into low self-confidence and mental health issues such as body dysmorphia and depression. A study found in ScienceDirect explains how social media affects self-esteem among young users. “It is therefore viable that social media use will more strongly affect girls’ than boys’ appearance self-esteem. Existing research has primarily examined the effect of social media use on appearance satisfaction in female samples” This quote ties into Kylie Jenner’s controversial social media. Kylie Jenner is a part of the Kardashian clan, where she blew up around 2018. Kylie since then has been known for posting photoshopped content that highlights unrealistic body standards. Kylie has gone as far as stating she is “natural” with confirmed cosmetic surgery being done. This article goes into detail on Kylie being caught using Photoshop creating an unrealistic beauty standard. Due to this, many have wanted to change their appearance to be more like this unrealistic beauty standard. Many have gone as far as getting cosmetic surgery to look more like Kylie. This article highlights just how far users are taking to look more like her. Kylie Jenner has had a huge influence on social media with her fashion and beauty empire. Her Instagram posts have caused millions of users to copy her aesthetic and fashion. Kylie Cosmetics is a prime example of this, with her lip kits going viral and causing millions of lip kits to be sold. Kylie’s influence showcases how a huge influencer can have such power and cause users to compare themselves. Although seeming harmful, when using Photoshop in the mix, users can have difficulty deciphering reality and fiction.

Despite age restrictions and content moderation policies, social media platforms fail to enforce these measures effectively. Although the age to use TikTok is thirteen, Andrew still got access to all parts of TikTok with no moderation. Many kids have lied about their birthdate, causing age restrictions to never be put into effect. A study done by the London School talks about the effectiveness of current social media regulations. Trying to implement a stronger strategy to restrict children’s exposure to heavy content faces its challenges. “The resulting legal uncertainty might prevent online platforms from taking proactive voluntary measures insofar as these liability exemptions are unavailable to service providers that play an active role regarding illegal third-party content that they transmit or host.25” Problems such as social media platforms not knowing how to implement stricter age restrictions and content such as video content may be harder to control. Parents and social media platforms truly do not understand the severity of their responsibilities. It was mentioned, “There is growing evidence documenting the harmful consequences to children of particular experiences of content, contact or conduct, including upsetting content, cyberbullying, and sexual harassment that are not satisfactorily addressed by the current regulatory framework.” There must be a better call of action to stop children from seeing content that can expose them to negative consequences. Every single social media platform has underage users under the 13 and up rule. Social media platforms must find a way to properly implement higher security regulations. The problem is the lack of proper algorithms taking place and the prioritization of profit over safety. Facebook and Instagram are the richest apps yet do not use their millions of resources to focus on better age restrictions.

Social media platforms expose children to harmful content, and it affects their behavior, mental health, and development of the world around them. Children are now shifting their reality to social media, which has shown negative consequences. There must be a call to action where social media platforms should encourage stronger regulatory measures, improving parental controls, and the promotion of digital literacy to mitigate the risks children face on social media. Now with the help of AI, this can be possible. There is a growing importance of protecting our children from the digital age. Many do not know how important social media safety is for all users. Children are easier victims making problems such as cyberbullying a huge risk. There is a collective responsibility for tech companies such as Meta, parents, and educators to fully educate these innocent children on the damaging content found on these “fun” platforms. It would be nice to see children keep their innocence and peaceful life for as long as possible. We must protect and shield our children from harmful content that causes psychological consequences.