Evidence Library
Comprehensive data charts, academic papers, and statistical analysis on the impact of social media on children and adolescents.
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.
Children’s Online Activities
These data from the 2026 EU Kids Online report provide a comprehensive overview of the digital activities and habits of 29,169 children across 19 European countries. The data reveal that digital spaces are primarily used for social connection and entertainment. The most frequent activity is communicating with friends, with 77% of children doing so daily (48% several times a day). Social media is also a vital tool for family communication, with 66% of children communicating with parents or caregivers daily. Watching videos on social media (72% daily) and listening to music (70% daily) far outpace active digital production, only 13% of children report creating or editing digital content daily. Furthermore, 68% of children use the internet for schoolwork or to learn something new at least once a week.
Children’s Views on Restrictions on Social Media
These data from the 2026 EU Kids Online report examine children's attitudes towards social media restrictions, revealing a delicate balance between their desire for autonomy and their acknowledgement of potential advantages. The data show that a significant proportion of European young people (47% in total) disagree with restrictions, fearing that they would make it difficult to participate in online discussions about news or politics, indicating concern for their civic participation rights. Similarly, almost half (48% in total) are concerned that restrictions would make it more difficult to stay in touch with friends, emphasising the social value of these platforms. A key trend emerges in the tension between perceived control and safety. While 45% of children agree that restrictions would limit their freedom and rights, only 33% believe that these restrictions would make them feel safer online. This suggests that young people are sceptical that bans would genuinely enhance their security. Furthermore, a significant proportion (48% total disagreement) would feel less comfortable if their parents knew which apps they used, emphasising their desire for digital privacy and autonomy from parental oversight.
Children’s Worries
These data from the 2026 EU Kids Online report illustrate the hierarchy of anxieties among 29,169 European children, contextualising digital risks within the broader scope of real-world concerns. The data reveal that children’s primary concerns are existential and academic: family illness or death (73%) and school performance (71%) significantly outweigh specific digital risks. However, digital risks carry a high 'intensity of worry'; for instance, although only 45% are concerned about non-consensual image-sharing, this issue receives the second-highest 'very worried' rating in the dataset (25%). A significant trend emerges regarding digital self-awareness. A total of 63% of children report being worried about 'using screens too much,' although the majority (39%) categorise this as 'a little worried'. Similarly, 51% of young people express concern about fake images (AI/deepfakes) and 49% about the difficulty of knowing who to trust online due to fake news.
Circumstances in Which Online Services Use Age Verification (2024)
Data represents the frequency of age verification (AV) triggers across 50 online service instances. Services often apply AV in multiple scenarios. This chart illustrates the triggers or circumstances under which age verification (AV) mechanisms are deployed, with data representing the percentage of instances within each specific digital service category. The data reveal that utilising AV "to access certain features" is the most widespread strategy, appearing in 70% of the categories and accounting for 50% of the triggers in the Social Media, Pornography, and Generative AI sectors. A significant trend emerges regarding the influence of regional regulations; verifying users "in certain geographic locations" is the dominant trigger for Gaming and App Stores (67%), and represents half of the triggers for Immersive environments and Generative AI (50%). Furthermore, the data highlight a heavily reactive enforcement landscape in specific sectors: Random live video chat relies exclusively on AV "on appeal" (100%), a method that also accounts for 40% of the triggers used by Social Media platforms following account suspensions. The data also underscore the rarity of proactive safety measures. Verification "at registration" is the primary method for only two categories: it is the exclusive trigger for "For kids" services (100%), but represents only 14% of the triggers in the Dating sector. Similarly, triggering AV due to "suspicious activity" remains a marginal practice, appearing only in Pornography (17%) and Dating (14%).
Civic & Political Participation: Youth vs. General Population (2025)
The 2025 Eurostat data reveal that the internet has become a vital infrastructure for youth democratic engagement, with 24.33% of EU youth using digital platforms for civic or political participation, outpacing the general population by 4 percentage points. This gap is widest in Slovenia, where nearly half (49.4%) of all young people utilise the internet for political expression (only 33% of the general population do it). Youth high participation rates are found also in Latvia (33%) and Netherlands (36%).
Concerns about safety of children when using social media
This chart illustrates public concerns in the European Union about the safety of children on social media, as revealed by a 2026 FRA survey of over 26,000 individuals. The data reveal an overwhelming consensus on digital risks, with concern levels exceeding 80% for all eight monitored categories. The most acute anxieties are tied to encountering violent content and predatory exploitation, both of which reach a peak concern level of 89% (54% are "very concerned"). Concerns about excessive usage and data exploitation both rank nearly as high at 88%, directly mirroring ongoing policy debates about addictive design and privacy issues. Even the category with the lowest reported level of concern (for example, the exposure to conspiracy theories) still affects 80% of the population.
Cyberbullying Prevalence (2022)
The chart shows the percentages of children experiencing cyberbullying, in 2022, in 22 European Union members with the prevalence of children experiencing cyberbullying ranging from 5% in Spain to a high of 23% in Lithuania. A clear regional trend emerges: Southern European nations, including Portugal (7%) and Italy (8%), report significantly lower rates of cyberbullying, while the Baltic and Eastern European states, most notably Lithuania (23%), Poland (21.5%), and Latvia (21.5%), report the highest levels.
Cyberbullying Prevalence by Gender (2022)
This chart shows the percentage of children experiencing cyberbullying by gender in 2022 across 22 European Union member states. The data shows that digital harassment risks vary significantly by gender and national context.
Daily Active Social Media Use: 15-Year-Olds (2022)
This chart shows the distribution of time spent on active social media activities, such as messaging, posting content, or sharing media, by 15-year-olds on a typical weekday. The data reveal that active participation remains a dominant behaviour for the vast majority of youth, with 84% of adolescents reporting daily active usage.