Our statement on the proposed social media ban
Big tech corporations are hurting us. Since we were teenagers we’ve been cyberbullied, pushed towards harmful content by opaque algorithms and left feeling anxious, isolated and unable to switch off. But we know that a social media ban for under 16s isn’t the right solution. A blanket ban would bar young people from this crucial public space and drive them to dark, unregulated parts of the web. It fails to tackle the power that big tech corporations have or curb their ability to exploit and profit from people’s data and lives. Social media is not like tobacco or alcohol, a harmful substance that young people should be protected from. It is an incredibly powerful tool that, along with AI, is shaping our democracies and our futures. Young people should be a key part of designing these tools and ensuring they benefit everyone.
Mad Youth Organise is a campaign led by young people with lived experience of mental distress and madness. We are calling out the corporations fuelling and profiting from the youth mental health crisis. Many of us have been directly harmed by social media, particularly through exposure to extreme pro-anorexia, pro-self-harm, and pro-suicide content at moments when we are at our most vulnerable. These experiences pushed many of us into an acute mental health crisis.
We welcome the growing recognition that social media is harming young people and agree that the government must take swift action to hold Big Tech accountable and stop the harm. But, we strongly oppose a blanket ban on social media for under-16s. The internet should be built by us for us; a space for connection, learning, and joy. But instead platforms have been designed to maximize profit, at the expense of young people’s wellbeing. Meta made $62 billion in profit last year by deliberately designing addictive and dangerous products. Banning under 16s from these spaces does not fix the underlying harm, social media is still a dark and dangerous place that is harming public discussion rather than facilitating it.
A blanket ban lets big tech companies off the hook. It allows platforms, their harmful algorithms, addictive features, and exploitative designs to continue unchanged while placing the burden on the very young people who are most affected. The problems with social media lie in how it is designed - by and for profit-driven corporations - not in the people using it. Restricting access will not make platforms safer; it fosters secrecy, risks driving users towards darker corners of the internet, and creates a false sense of safety while the platforms continue to operate in ways that harm users.
A blanket social media ban disproportionately impacts marginalised communities. As a group of mad, disabled people, we know better than most that social media can be a powerful resource to young people who are LGBTQ+, disabled, carers, or living in rural areas. For us, these online spaces are vital for connection, support, community and information. Removing access isolates these groups further.
Big tech corporations are limiting our imagination. What might social media enable us to do if its purpose wasn’t data extraction and profit? Social media can and should be designed differently. We are the first generation to have grown up online; we know social media has an enormous potential for connection and learning and, if designed differently, it could foster real solidarity and in fact support mental wellbeing. Imagining social media as user-led rather than profit-led opens up possibilities for platforms that are democratic, transparent, and community-driven.
We need to curb corporate power and give young people agency. Young people’s voices are being completely sidelined in the debate about a social media ban. But we should be at the heart of shaping this change. We should be given real agency over what we see, how we connect, and how our data is used. Protecting young people will not be achieved through a blanket exclusion from an online world. The solution is to wrest control from Big Tech, demand accountability, and centre young people in shaping safe, empowering, and meaningful digital spaces.
Instead of social media ban we’re calling for:
A 4% misery tax on big tech corporations to make them pay for the harm they’ve caused
Action to break up big tech’s monopolies
Support for alternative public and grassroots social media that realizes the democratic potential of this technology
These are the solutions that can realise the potential of social media by creating tools for connection, knowledge, and community.