The health secretary Jeremy Hunt launched a blistering attack on Sunday on social media companies for “turning a blind eye” to emotional problems and mental health damage suffered by children who have uncontrolled access to their online platforms.
In an angrily worded letter sent to executives at Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and Google, Hunt says their failure to come forward with safeguards to control access is both “morally wrong” and “unfair on parents”.
Hunt says their inadequate responses have left him with no option but to consider legislation on internet safety. He has also asked the chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, to report on the impact of technology on young people’s mental health, and to recommend healthy limits for screen time.
In the letter, Hunt tells the companies that their work on devising ways to verify the age of children accessing social media platforms, on screen-time limits, and on measures to end cyberbullying has fallen short.
“In particular, progress on age verification is not good enough … I am concerned that your companies seem content with a situation where thousands of users breach your own terms and conditions on the minimum user age.
“I fear that you are collectively turning a blind eye to a whole generation of children being exposed to the harmful emotional side-effects of social media prematurely; this is both morally wrong and deeply unfair on parents, who are faced with the invidious choice of allowing children to use platforms they are too young to access, or excluding them from social interaction that often the majority of their peers are engaging in. It is unacceptable and irresponsible for you to put parents in this position.”
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
