Social media firms ‘still failing to tackle cyber-bullying’
Tech giants were accused of a “tokenistic” response to the problem as MPs and charities warned it is hitting youngsters’ mental health
SOCIAL media firms are failing to tackle cyber-bullying, a report claims.
Tech giants were accused of a “tokenistic” response to the problem as MPs and charities warned it is hitting youngsters’ mental health.
Cyber-bullying takes a number of forms - including mass "unfollowings", sharing of embarrassing photos and threatening, intimidating or nasty messages, the study found.
It highlighted how children and young people are using social media for hours every day, often across multiple profiles.
A survey of 1,089 respondents aged 11 to 25 found almost one in 10 admitted logging on after midnight every night.
Describing their views on social media usage in an evidence session, one youngster said "it's almost like a drug", while another said: "Nobody really goes out anymore."
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A 15-year-old-girl said: "You kind of expect to experience it: nasty comments on the selfie, Facebook posts and Twitter posts, people screen-grabbing your Snapchat story to laugh about it ... I feel like it's something people don't take seriously."
Conservative MP Alex Chalk, who led the inquiry alongside charities The Children's Society and YoungMinds, said: "Cyber-bullying can devastate young lives, but to date the response from social media companies has been tokenistic and inadequate.
"It has failed to grip the true scale of the problem. For too long they have been marking their own homework and it's time they become far more transparent, robust and accountable."
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