Safer Socials
Demanding tech platforms be made safe by design
Our Safer Socials Campaign channels public pressure towards regulators to force tech platforms to make their products safe by design for young people – and for us all.
The way social media is designed is dangerous. It is driving a youth mental health crisis and damaging millions of lives. Algorithms drive us towards darker and darker content because this makes more money from advertising. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Global Action Plan is taking action against the harmful business models that put us and our children at risk.
We are being gaslit by Big Tech. Parents are made to feel guilty for not protecting children, young people are shamed for too much time on it, yet billions of pounds go into designing platforms to keep us on them. The blame and shame must not be on parents and kids, it must be on those who have the power to make social media safer.
Using research and powerful communications, our Safer Socials campaign works to expose the array of harms to young people.
We worked with Dove and a partnership of NGOs –including 5Rights Foundation, Girlguiding and Parenting Mental Health - to raise awareness of harmful features on social media to encourage new design standards that will make social media safer for kids.
We launched a petition alongside Dove’s The Cost of Beauty film, which showed the impact of toxic beauty content on girls. Over 78,000 people signed our petition, which we delivered to Ofcom when the Online Safety Act was made law.
We have also worked with Vodafone, launching research and a film called ‘The Rise of the Aggro-rithm' to expose how boys are being targeted with harmful and misogynistic content. This won the PR Week Award for Best Technology Campaign 2024.
8 in 10
youth mental health specialists say social media is fuelling a mental health crisis
69%
of boys aged 11-14 have been exposed to harmful content that promotes misogyny and other harmful views
78,000
people signed our petition calling for social media to be made safer by design, which we delivered to Ofcom when the Online Safety Act became law
With thanks to our Safer Socials partners
Working with Global Action Plan gave us the confidence to know we were running a credible campaign that led to meaningful action. Their campaigning expertise and strategic understanding of the UK landscape on child online safety was invaluable to our #KidsOnlineSafety campaign.
Amalie Thompson, Global Brand Manager, Dove
Related content
