Over 4,500 parents demand tech companies to prioritise online safety for kids

Many feel that more protection is needed.

Today, ParentsTogether released a new campaign that will target parents as the group seeks to rally support for social media companies to implement much-needed reforms to their products in order to protect children online. Additionally a letter signed by more than 4,500 parents will be sent to tech companies urging them to fix their products in order to prioritize the health and wellbeing of today’s youth. The ParentsTogether campaign specifically demands that social media platforms like TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, and Facebook stop designing addictive products, protect children from predators, stop using algorithms to promote harmful, dangerous content to kids, opt-out of selling kids’ private information, and release information on the real effect of their products. Speaking with us today, Bethany Robertson, Co-Director of ParentsTogether said;

“Children are in crisis because tech companies are engineering social media platforms for addiction and manipulation of children - design choices that place massive profit over the well-being of kids. This is a public health emergency and we can’t wait any longer for Social media companies to act... Parents are begging for help. We need safer platforms that allow for our children and teens to have healthy, secure lives, and we need them now.”

The campaign is specifically targeting parents of adolescents and uses the voices of young people to underscore the dangers they’re subject to while using social media. The letter and ad campaign come as today’s youth continue to suffer emotionally and mentally due to the COVID crisis. Social media has been attributed with a loss of sleep, increased illegal alcohol and drug use, high-risk sexual behavior, eating disorders and more. With more and more children having access to the internet is it time that big tech corporations started taking more responsibility for online safety? Personally, as a parent, even though I know part of the responsibility is on me to check what my children access online I think that social media platforms and streaming services should also have more protection in place to protect young people.