Youth Endowment Fund · 2024
This report from the Youth Endowment Fund examines how social media platforms expose teenage children to real-life violent content and how this affects their behaviour and sense of safety. Drawing on a survey of 10,000 young people aged 13–17 in England and Wales, it finds that 70% have seen real-life violent content online in the past year, with a quarter of that content algorithmically pushed by platforms such as TikTok and X. The research also links online exposure to offline violence: 16% of respondents reported perpetrating a violent incident, and nearly two-thirds of those said social media played a role. Findings are intended to inform policymakers, practitioners, and social media companies on safeguarding and youth violence prevention.