Evidence Library
Comprehensive data charts, academic papers, and statistical analysis on the impact of social media on children and adolescents.
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Children aged 11-17 Response to Exposure to Harmful Content
This chart from the Ofcom Children’s Online Safety Tracker 2025 examines how UK children (aged 11–17) behave after encountering harmful content. It compares the period before and after the UK Online Safety Act and Ofcom’s Children’s Codes were implemented. The data reveal that passivity remains the most prevalent response, with almost half of children (47%) choosing to ignore or scroll past the content. However, a significant and positive trend emerges in the area of safeguarding and adult intervention. Following the introduction of the new safety duties, there was a statistically significant increase in the proportion of children telling a grown-up about their negative experiences, rising from 10% to 15%. This suggests that the regulatory focus on safety, transparency, and digital literacy may successfully encourage adolescents to seek help from trusted adults rather than navigate digital harms alone. Conversely, the data show a decrease in 'evasive' private actions, such as deleting messages (falling to 1%) or leaving group chats (falling to 2%). Use of platform-provided safety tools, such as reporting (12%) and blocking (11%), remained relatively stable post-regulation.
Functionalities Linked to Exposure of Harmful Content (11-17years old)
This chart from the Ofcom Children’s Online Safety Tracker 2025 identifies the technical features through which children in the UK (aged 11–17) encounter harmful content. It compares data from before and after the implementation of the UK Online Safety Act and Ofcom’s Children’s Codes. Despite new 'Safety-by-Design' mandates specifically targeting the re-engineering of algorithmic feeds, the data reveal that scrolling on personalised feeds (35%) remains the primary functionality through which young people are exposed to digital harm. A significant trend emerges in the shift towards 'secondary' social spaces. While exposure via feeds remained relatively stable, exposure through platform comments increased significantly, rising from 14% to 21%. This suggests that, although regulators have focused heavily on the 'push' of recommender systems, the 'human layer' of peer-to-peer interaction in comments has become a growing risk vector. Conversely, the data shows a statistically significant decrease in intentional search behaviour, which fell to just 1%, suggesting that new safety duties have been successful in making harmful content harder to find through search queries.
Outcomes of Reporting Harmful Content Among 11-17-Year-Olds
This chart from the 2025 Ofcom Children’s Online Safety Tracker assesses the effectiveness of platform reporting mechanisms from the perspective of UK children (aged 11–17). It compares the period before and after the implementation of the UK Online Safety Act and Ofcom’s Children’s Codes. The data reveal a profound 'communication-action paradox': while platforms have significantly improved their procedural transparency, the rate of content removal has declined. There has been a significant shift towards 'process over outcome'. Following the introduction of the new safety duties, there was a more than twofold increase in the number of platforms informing children that 'they would look into it' (rising from 13% to 27%). Conversely, the percentage of reports where 'nothing has happened yet' fell sharply from 26% to 14%. However, this increase in communication coincided with a significant drop in content deactivation, falling from 41% to 27%.
Percentage of 8-17-Year-Olds Recalled Use of Services in United Kingdom
This data from Ofcom's 2025 Children's Online Safety Tracker illustrate the changing landscape of digital service usage among UK children (aged 8–17) following the introduction of the UK Online Safety Act and Ofcom's Children's Codes. The data reveal a statistically significant shift towards specific, highly engaging platforms, with usage of TikTok (60%) and Snapchat (50%) increasing four months after the new safety duties came into force. In contrast, legacy social media and messaging services, including Instagram (44%), Facebook (41%) and Facebook Messenger (29%), all experienced significant declines.
Service Associated with Recalled Exposure to Harmful Content (11-17y)
This chart from the Ofcom Children’s Online Safety Tracker 2025 illustrates the percentage of UK children aged 11–17 who associate specific online services with their exposure to harmful content. The data covers the period before and four months after the introduction of the UK Online Safety Act and Ofcom’s Children’s Codes. These introduced strict 'safety by design' duties, including re-engineering algorithms to prevent 'rabbit holes' of harmful content and removing addictive features for minors. Despite the introduction of these new regulatory duties, recalled exposure to harmful content increased on some platforms. TikTok remains the primary site of exposure, with a 9 percentage point increase to 53%, while Snapchat also saw a rise to 31%. Conversely, Facebook was the only major service to see some decrease in associated harm, falling from 38% to 31%. The data also highlights the prevalence of harm in gaming environments, with Roblox (25%) and Minecraft (13%) emerging as notable sites of concern.