The Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) has welcomed the launch of the UK government’s consultation on measures to protect children on social media.

The consultation was published today (2 March) and asks for views from parents, carers, young people, those who work with children, civil society organisations, academics and industry. It will run for three months, until 26 May.

This follows the release of Molly vs. the Machines, a documentary about Molly Russell, a young teenager from Harrow who committed suicide after suffering from depression. She had gained access to materials regarding self-harm and suicide on social media platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest. 

Simon Michaelides, director general of the ISBA said: “Molly vs. the Machines is an important, moving and powerful film. It exposes clear failures by the social media platforms to protect their users from harm. In addition, it presents the case that the algorithms used by social media platforms can result in individuals, like Molly, being served a stream of harmful content.”

The ISBA has highlighted that it has supported the “proportionate regulation” of tech platforms since 2017.

Michaelides explained:” With the Online Safety Act coming into force, our hope is that enforcement will mean that more is done to remove the kind of inappropriate and harmful content that children and young people are often exposed to.

“If it does not prove to be sufficient, ISBA will continue to work with the industry and Government – as it has always done – to ensure that advertisers’ concerns are reflected in any efforts to revisit the law.”

He added: “Advertisers do not want to appear next to or near to harmful content, or to inadvertently monetise it. They want to understand platforms’ policies on what content they disallow, and how those platforms are working to detect, remove, and prevent it.

This information allows them to make their own informed decisions about where they place their advertising.

“We will continue to work with and constructively challenge the social media platforms on behalf of our members. It goes without saying that platforms are expected to comply with the requirements of the Online Safety Act and to be clear and transparent about the environment they are selling to advertisers.”

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