With young people being exposed to harmful and graphic online content more than ever before, this is having a direct knock-on effect in communities across the UK. Exclusive research from the documentary revealed that violent crime in schools has surged to nearly 100,000 reported incidents in just three years, with police reports up by almost 25%.
“Every teacher, along with so many parents of teenagers, has stories like mine and Brianna’s. I can’t help thinking that this shouldn’t be the norm – we need to do something to change this.”
ITV
The documentary also hears from Arturo Bejar, former senior engineering and product leader at Facebook, members of Cheshire Police responsible for investigating Brianna’s murder, and Brianna’s school friends. It paints a detailed picture of a journey of harm, one that Brianna and her killers were taken on by addictive algorithms and careless corporations, one without safeguards, which led to a preventable tragedy.
Meta disagrees with Bejar’s comments. They say they have clear rules against, and proactively identify and remove, harmful content, and point out that they have already implemented a number of additional safeguarding features including Teen Accounts on Instagram.
Since losing her Brianna, Esther has spent a lot of time reflecting on how vital preventative action is, and what schools and MPs could do to address the growing issue of online radicalisation of young people. “The government needs to take a much firmer stance against social media companies. We have so many campaigners in the UK who have been working extremely hard to ensure that social media is safe for children, but each time they seem to be getting somewhere, the regulation is watered down.”
Earlier this month, the Safer Phones Bill, which had aimed to ban addictive social media algorithms and prevent under-16s from using social media, was watered down after opposition from technology secretary Peter Kyle and education secretary Bridget Phillipson. Instead, the government said more time is needed for research on the impacts of social media on young people.