The Scottish Government will convene a new task force to look at what can be done to tackle online harms to children as it was urged to consider a social media ban for young people.
Children’s minister Natalie Don-Innes made the announcement on Wednesday during a debate about violence in schools brought by the Scottish Conservatives.
The party urged the Scottish Government to take action on the issue, which the EIS – Scotland’s biggest teaching union – said has left some teachers with broken bones and post-traumatic stress disorder as a result, calling for a ban on mobile phones and an age limit for social media use, which is soon to be implemented in Australia.
Scottish Tory education spokesman Miles Briggs said: “The debate we have seen in Australia is important around the negative impact social media is having on our young people’s mental health.
“We need to look towards the toxic environment our young people are living in and how we can change that.”
The Australian ban was passed last year and sets the age limit at 16 for social media use, with a potential 50 million Australian dollar (£25 million) fine for social media companies which do not comply.
Speaking in the debate, Ms Don-Innes did not directly address the calls for a social media ban.
She said: “Across this chamber, we are committed to ensuring our children and young people are free to grow up safe and nurtured.
“When browsing the internet, children can be exposed to cyber bullying, violent content, sexualised material and hate speech, including messages that incite violence or encourage toxic masculinity.
“Exposure to such content is putting our children at risk and that is why I am pleased to inform Parliament today that the First Minister has asked me to work with the minister for victims and community safety to create a new task force to identify what more can be done within the limits of devolution to protect children and young people from online harms.”
Ms Don-Innes’s comments come as she sent a joint letter – alongside community safety minister Siobhian Brown – to UK ministers urging them to take more action on online harms.
In the letter – which was sent to five UK ministers including Technology Secretary Peter Kyle, online safety minister Baroness Jones of Whitchurch and safeguarding minister Jess Phillips – the pair said: “Given the scale of online abuse and exploitation of children and young people, it is crucial that our governments do more to work collectively together, and with other national and local partners, to further strengthen our action on online safety.”
They pushed for the Online Safety Act to be strengthened in line with similar EU laws to ensure “greater protection and accountability, and increased online safety for consumers”.
A UK Government spokesperson said: “We regularly engage with the Scottish Government on a range of issues including our shared priority of creating a safer online world. The correspondence was received today and we will respond in due course.
“From March, the Online Safety Act will protect people from illegal content online and from summer bring in protections for children to make sure their experiences online are appropriate for their age.
“Last November we set out new priorities on online safety, including ensuring safety is baked into platforms from the start, and launched a research project looking at the links between social media and children’s wellbeing. This will help build the evidence base to inform future action.”
