The government has responded to our call for big tech accountability

At the end of May, our Mad Youth Organise campaign made a submission to the government’s national consultation on a social media ban and other potential measures to restrict young people’s access to social media.

Alongside this submission, 500 campaign supporters wrote to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) urging the government not to punish young people for Big Tech's dangerous business model - and instead pursue policies that actually hold social media giants to account for the harm they are causing.

Within days of our movement taking this action, DSIT sent us a response. They recognised and thanked Mad Youth Organise for our campaigning and said that the reflections in our submission would be “carefully considered and taken into account”. Even if these turn out to be hollow words, this clearly shows that they know they cannot ignore our movement, which is led by young people who have lived experience of social media harm and mental distress. And that shows we have power.

You can read the full letter below - and scroll on for our take on why it’s not good enough…

We’re glad to hear that the government recognises the importance of measures to allow users to move between platforms more easily, which is something we have been demanding. But they need to be making this a political priority, as well as pursuing other policies such as a 4% misery tax on big tech profits and supporting the development of alternative platforms. These are the kind of urgent measures we need to wrest control of social media away from big tech corporations.

However, it is disappointing and disturbing to see articles in the press reporting that the government is already planning to press ahead with announcing restrictions on young people’s access to social media, even when the consultation has only just concluded.

It seems the government is refusing to listen to our vital message: banning young people does not meaningfully tackle big tech harm, or force these platforms to change their business models. Instead, it punishes young people and excludes them from a crucial part of our public world at a time when connection, knowledge and community are so important.

These measures won’t keep children safe. Australia introduced a ban in December 2025 and research shows that over 60% of under 16 year olds have continued to access social media despite the ban - this kind of approach risks pushing young people to even darker corners of the online world.

Instead, we’re calling on the government to commit to real action to hold big tech to account:

• Tax big tech to make them pay for the harm they’re causing. We’re demanding a 4% “misery tax” on UK revenues of big tech corporations, which would generated funds ring fenced for funding urgently needed mental health care.

• Take action to break up monopolies. For example, forcing companies to enable users to move friends and messages between platforms (this is called data portability).

• End addictive design. Legislate to end infinite scrolling and allow people to see and edit their algorithms - or even turn it off completely.

• Support alternatives. We need public subsidies for not-for-profit social media sites which can counter big tech’s power and control.

If the government is genuinely serious about protecting young people from harm, these are the policies they should be pursuing. Punishing young people for big tech’s dangerous business model is not the solution. If you agree, and you want to help fight for big tech accountability, get involved in Mad Youth Organise by signing up to our mailing list or joining our campaign WhatsApp group!