Children's charities warn that a social media ban could be 'a potential gift to abusers'

Late last year, the Australian government ordered a social media ban for under-16s. Ten platforms have deleted a total of 4.7m social media accounts. Stock picture

Children's charities have warned how the “unintended consequences” of a social media ban could end up as “a potential gift” to paedophiles.

Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Head of Policy and Public Affairs Fiona Jennings warned nobody really knows what impact a ban would have.

She said “perpetrators” will target children regardless of whether the platform they use is regulated or not.

More than 4.7m social media accounts held by Australians deemed by online platforms as being under 16 were deactivated, removed, or restricted last year.

The 10 platforms the government announced were covered by the Australian government's social media ban that came in on December 10 were Twitch, Kick, YouTube, Threads, Facebook, Instagram, Snap, X, TikTok, and Reddit.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said the Government will not be pushed into making “knee-jerk” decisions around social media controls for children and young people.

Ms Jennings told the Irish Examiner: “The idea of a social media ban is topical and mooted as the answer to keeping children safe online.

“The reality is that while a ban is currently being trialled in another jurisdiction, no-one actually knows whether it will have the impact desired by its supporters or whether young people will just find a way around it.

There can be unintended consequences to prohibitions and a ban on social media is no different. We know children can be vulnerable online and we know perpetrators can spot this vulnerability easily.

“This can happen in online spaces that are regulated and ones that are not. 

"The potential for harm is very real but the uncomfortable reality we ignore at our peril is that these digital environments do play a fundamental part in children’s lives today.”

She added: “The flaw in the design of these products is ultimately responsible for a lot of the harm caused as it does not take either the safety of children into account or their rights.”

She was speaking in light of comments by the UK’s NSPCC head of policy and public affairs Anna Edmondson who has also warned about unintended consequences.

The renewed debate on young people's access to social media was sparked amid widespread anger after the Grok AI tool on X (Twitter) was used to 'nudify' without consent the images of women and children. Picture: Yui Mok/PA

Speaking on the BBC’s Today programme, she said: “It's important that — in that push to do something which is absolutely necessary — we don't put in place solutions that actually cause unintended consequences and make children and young people less safe or cut them off from vital sources of support or push them into even more dangerous spaces.

“If, as they've done in Australia, you choose a certain number of platforms, and you say, 'these are the platforms that you shouldn't be accessing', then there are other platforms that aren't caught by that and it [a social media ban] will simply push them to unsafe, less regulated spaces.

“That's the bit where the dangers really follow, because you have spaces where children feel they're doing something wrong, they have to hide their social media use from their parents and they're less likely to speak up.

“That's not safeguarding children, that is a potential gift to abusers.”