Stronger regulation of social media companies, increased transparency and restricting data collection from young people are just some of the consistent recommendations made by experts across the globe, a new review has found.
The world-first review brings together expert recommendations from 70 reports across Australia, the UK, USA and Canada, and found recommendations fell into five themes – four of which centred on holding social media companies to account.
Lead author of the review, Orygen research fellow Dr Jasleen Chhabra, said the recommendations emphasised the many options available for making social media safer for young people – and pointed out that restricting access would not address many of the current issues.
“In Australia, both sides of politics support a ban on social media for under-16s, but now that these bans are legislated it’s vital that we tackle the bigger issues making online spaces unsafe,” Dr Chhabra said.
“Once young people turn 16, what kind of online world will they have access to?
“Without regulation, harmful and distressing content will continue to proliferate on social media, affecting young people and, of course, people of all ages.”
The review found that all expert recommendations could be grouped into five categories: legislating and overseeing accountability, transparency, collaboration, safety by design and restricting access.
Co-author Vita Pilkington said that imposing tighter regulations on social media companies was advocated for widely, but that banning social media for those aged under 16 was less of a focus and did not address any of the broader issues.
“Age-based bans also create a new set of problems, such as how to use age verification and ensure people’s privacy,” Pilkington said.
“However, now bans are set to be introduced, we need to ensure the next steps are taken to hold social media companies to higher standards, so that when young people – and others – spend time online, the harms are minimised.
“We also know there are many positives for young people who use social media – including social connection, finding important information and exploring identities – so we need to ensure we implement evidence-based recommendations to make these spaces safer.”
The review calls on governments, regulators, and social media companies to work together to create safer online spaces – and highlights the need to listen to and work with young people in designing safety measures and legislation.