MPs ask: how dangerous is social media for children and teenagers?
On Tuesday the Education Committee will hear evidence on screentime and social media from those representing lived experience of online harms, as well as teaching unions and the social media company Snapchat.
Meeting details
In the first panel, MPs will hear from the Brianna Ghey Legacy Project and the Molly Rose Foundation, who will give evidence on how online content contributed to the deaths of Brianna Ghey and Molly Russell, as well as the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).
MPs are likely to ask witnesses for their views on restricting social media for under-16s, as well as their response to Meta and TikTok’s claims to the Committee last week that their platforms are not addictive.
In the second panel, MPs will ask major teaching unions about the government’s plans to ban phones in schools, as well as how screentime affects how pupils interact with each other and staff at school.
The Committee will also hear from the social media company Snapchat. They are likely to ask what Snapchat is proactively doing to identify abuse and harmful content on their platform, and their views on government proposals to ban social media for under-16s or restrict functions such as disappearing messages.