Written evidence submitted by the Office of the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner (SMH0019)
Dear Chi
Re: Call for Evidence - Social media, misinformation and harmful algorithms
I am writing to provide information in support of your call for evidence on social media, misinformation and harmful algorithms. As Police and Crime Commissioner, we are champions for victims of crime. We set the priorities for local policing, decide the budget, provide services for victims and work with other agencies to reduce crime.
Summary
There are three issues that I wish to submit evidence on. First, is the impact of different online platforms. I will argue that it is not just social media companies that need to take action but also gaming networks. Some providers, such as YouTube, are actively promoting misinformation in order to encourage users to grow their channels. I will also demonstrate that many crimes are being perpetrated on these platforms.
Gaming networks
I have recently been focussing on the impact of crime and online harms to young people. This has included a survey of parents and children, which was completed by over 7,100 people (The Kent Youth Survey). I have asked about the social media and device usage of young people, whether they have been impacted by online bullying and who they communicated this with.
My survey found that 60% of primary school pupils own their own smartphone and 70% own their own tablet. The figures for secondary school pupils were 95% and 50% respectively. Across both age groups, gaming networks were amongst the most used platforms.
I asked whether young people had been a victim of online bullying. They said that the most common platform for this to take place on was Roblox (n249). However, Roblox ranked fourth on the list of platforms that parents believed their children were being bullied on (n39).
Whilst direct comparisons cannot be made as the survey was anonymous, it does show that there is potentially a gap between what young people are experiencing and what parents know about. This should be borne in mind when considering online safety and what is being shared online.
YouTube and the importance of algorithms
There is great potential for the algorithms used by social media platforms to cause great harm and aid the spread of misinformation. YouTube is the most popular social media platform used by young people in Kent according to The Kent Youth Survey. It is used by 81% of primary school children and 79% of primary school age children.
However, I am concerned about apps like YouTube Studio, through which creators can monitor the performance of their content, encouraging misinformation. I have attached an example screenshot from a YouTube Channel that I manage that was shown to me in YT Studio. My video is the one in the centre called “Biden Pardons His Son”.
As you can see from the thumbnails around it, YouTube is proactively suggesting videos that include significant amounts of misinformation about HM The King, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.
As a majority of young people consume hours of content from YouTube every day, it is reckless for the platform to be suggesting mimicking the style of these videos.
Online crime and harm
I am increasingly concerned about the crime and harm which is being distributed via social media and online gaming networks. In the last twelve months, 1336 crime reports were recorded in Kent that included the words “Instagram”, “Snapchat”, “YouTube”, “Roblox” or “Whatsapp” within the text areas. Snapchat was by far the biggest share of these offences (n936).
This does not suggest that the platform was directly involved in the criminal activity or act itself, or that the offences were all involving children.
However, the offences these words were mentioned in included 166 offences of harassment, 113 incidents of malicious communications, 166 offences involving indecent images or pseudo-images of children, 47 blackmail offences and 34 stalking reports.
In addition, of all crimes committed by someone under the age of 16 in Kent in the last three years, sharing of indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children ranked fourth highest with 2919 offences. These offences are directly relevant to your inquiry as you explore the impact of AI and image generation.
Conclusion
I hope that these points are helpful to your inquiry. I would be very happy to meet with the Committee to discuss them further or provide further evidence.
Yours sincerely
Matthew Scott
Kent Police and Crime Commissioner
17 December 2024
Appendix: YouTube Screenshot
