Psychologists warn of risks from overly restrictive social media ban for teens

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Psychologists have warned of the unintended consequences of “overly restrictive approaches” to online social media bans for young teenagers.

The Oireachtas committee on children and equality met with children’s rights advocates and researchers to continue its discussions on the regulation of children’s online safety.

This week, Spain became the latest country to announce it plans to ban social media for under 16s to protect them from porn and violent content.

Last December, Australia became the first country in the world to ban young teenagers from popular platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Separately, social media platform X refused to appear before the Oireachtas media committee this week in a move that has been described as “extremely disappointing and worrying”.

Last month, the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau confirmed there is an ongoing investigation in relation to X’s AI chatbot Grok.

An Garda Síochána is currently investigating 200 child sexual abuse images generated by the AI feature.

In a submission to the Oireachtas committee on Thursday, the Psychological Society of Ireland said the primary responsibility for protecting children from harm by digital devices must lie with the creators of those technologies.

It also cautioned against “overly rigid or automated approaches to online safety". 

“Blanket content removal and AI driven moderation can unintentionally block legitimate help seeking and recovery focused content, weaken peer support networks, and silence recovery stories," it said.

“There is also a risk that overly restrictive approaches may push vulnerable young people towards less visible and less regulated online spaces, while focusing on symptoms rather than the underlying causes of distress.”

Professor John Canavan, Director of the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre, University of Galway, told the committee social media should be framed as a public health issue.

“This means working from interventions with parents and young people, all the way to public health messaging regarding social media use.

“A public health approach must incorporate a specific focus on the responsibilities of social media companies to ensure that their platforms are safe for children and young people.”