Children exposed to harmful content within minutes of creating social media account, new experiment reveals

• Researchers created four fictional profiles of British 13-year-olds, two boys and two girls, across TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube and Instagram and found within minutes they were served content featuring guns, self-harm, sexualised material and misogynistic narratives.

• One of the profiles was shown an extremely distressed woman being rescued from a torture scene within seconds of signing up to TikTok, while another was shown graphic gun content on YouTube.
• Big Tech’s Little Victims, a campaign led by the National Education Union, ran ‘The Algorithm Experiment to explore what children are shown when they sign up to social media for the first time.
• Researchers logged on for up to 30 minutes a day for a week and found that, on average, for every one minute of content they watched, they were shown one piece of concerning content by the algorithm.
• The campaign is calling for urgent action from the government to raise the age of social media access to 16 and protect children from exploitation by social media platforms.

26 February 2026 – London, UK – Children in the UK are potentially being exposed to harmful, sexualised and extreme content within minutes of joining social media platforms, according to a new experiment by the Big Tech’s Little Victims campaign – led by the National Education Union (NEU) and a growing coalition of supporting organisations, experts and community leaders.

The findings come from ‘The Algorithm Experiment’, which set out to uncover what children are shown by algorithm-driven platforms when they sign up to social media at 13 – the current legal age of access. Over the course of a week, the profiles were served hundreds of pieces of concerning content, including material glamourising guns and knives, explicit references to sex and pornography, promoting extreme fitness regimes and diets, and encouraging misogyny, isolation, self‑harm and even suicide.

Daniel Kebede, General Secretary, National Education Union, said: “What this experiment shows is shocking, but not surprising. Children are being exposed to deeply harmful content on social media, even when platforms know their age. This is not accidental – it is how these systems are designed.

“At 13, children’s minds are still developing, yet they are being targeted by powerful, unregulated algorithms built to maximise engagement at any cost. Teachers see the impact every day, with rising misogyny, worsening concentration and pupils arriving at school exhausted by what they have been exposed to online. While parents are left to manage the fallout at home alone.

“That is why the Government must act now and raise the age of social media access to 16. Every day of delay leaves thousands more children exposed to harm and exploitation.”

Four fictional profiles were created on TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube, based on typical 13-year-old girls and boys in the UK, using common interests such as gaming, beauty, music and sport. Researchers then used each platform for up to 30 minutes a day, scrolling as a child would.

On average across the week, the profiles were served concerning content within just three minutes of logging on, and for every minute spent scrolling, they were shown one piece of harmful or inappropriate content. In some sessions, harmful material was the very first thing served, while algorithmic content loops made it difficult – and sometimes impossible – to escape escalating harm. In one session on Snapchat, 86 pieces of concerning content were flagged in 30 minutes of scrolling.

Natalie Cassidy, actress and Big Tech’s Little Victims campaign ambassador, said: “Your children viewing content like this is every parent’s worst nightmare. You assume that if a platform knows your child’s age, it will protect them – but this experiment shows that simply isn’t happening. Parents cannot monitor every scroll, every video, every algorithmic decision. We need the Government to step in and put children’s safety before Big Tech’s profits.”

The findings mirror what teachers across the UK report seeing every day. New NEU research shows that 70% of teachers frequently see pupils’ behaviour, attitudes or language influenced by extreme or harmful online content, and almost nine in ten teachers (89%) believe social media platforms play a major role in exposing pupils to such material.¹

The experiment also revealed clear differences across platforms and genders, finding that:

• Concerning and harmful content appeared more frequently and escalated most sharply across TikTok and Snapchat. Content on Instagram was mostly age appropriate.
• Content on Snapchat became so extreme at one point with self-harm and suicide ideation, that the adult researcher had to temporarily step away from the experiment to protect their own mental wellbeing.
• Girls were disproportionately served extreme body‑focused and sexualised content, including thinspiration, body shaming, adult dating advice, and obsessive exercise, often alongside content promoting self‑harm and suicidal ideation. TikTok served the girl profiles content on extreme health, fitness or diet in 92% of the sessions, and sexualised content in 83% of the sessions. 
• Boys were funnelled towards violence, misogyny and radicalisation, with repeated exposure to weapons, hostile content about women, racist and anti‑immigration narratives, and figures linked to extremist or conspiratorial view – like Tommy Robinson, Andrew Tate, Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson. Across TikTok and YouTube, boys’ profiles were served content featuring hate speech or racist narratives in 77% of sessions. On TikTok, misogynistic content appeared in 85% of boys’ sessions, compared with 13% of girls’ sessions. All sessions that flagged content involving weapons or violence were associated with male profiles.
• Mental health distress was a common thread across all profiles, with girls more likely to be shown content encouraging self‑harm and eating disorders, while boys were more often served content promoting isolation, emotional suppression and anti‑help messaging. Content of this nature appeared in 50% of the sessions. This rose to 74% when just looking at TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube.
• Algorithms created harmful content loops that were difficult to escape, with time to first exposure shortening as the week progressed and some sessions dominated almost entirely by concerning material. The average time to first exposure on day one of the experiment was over six minutes; by the end of the experiment this had shortened dramatically to two minutes.

Public concern is already clear. New polling of parents shows that nearly two-thirds believe the current age limit of 13 is too low, and more than 70% support banning social media for under-16s², while 90%¹ of teachers would also support a ban.

The House of Lords has already voted in favour of an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to raise the age of social media access to 16. MPs are expected to vote soon. If the amendment fails, the Government has indicated it will move to a consultation – delaying action while thousands more children remain exposed to harm.

In addition to raising the age of access to 16, the Big Tech’s Little Victims campaign is calling for:

• Guidance on the health impacts of social media on children and young people
• Guaranteed space on the school curriculum to teach digital literacy
• A watermark for ethical advertising for social media platforms
• A windfall tax on social media companies to pay for mental health services

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

¹ Polling of 1,601 National Education Union members, conducted by the National Education Union. Data collected on 16^th January 2026.

² Survey of 1,010 parents of school age children in England and Wales, conducted by Deltapoll for the National Education Union. Data collected between 21^st and 22^nd January 2026.

About the campaign

Big Tech’s Little Victims is a campaign led by the National Education Union alongside a growing coalition of supporting organisations, experts and community leaders to raise awareness of how social media companies are exploiting children for profit and stealing their childhoods. The campaign is calling on the UK Government to protect children from this exploitation and raise the age of social media access to 16.

About ‘The Algorithm Experiment’

Big Tech’s Little Victims recently ran ‘The Algorithm Experiment’ to see what content is served to children when they create social media profiles for the first time. Four fictional profiles were set up across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat based on personas of typical UK children who have just turned 13 – the current legal age of access. Researchers scrolled on the platforms for 30 minutes a day for a week, mimicking standard viewing behaviour and following accounts typically by followed by teens with similar interests.

Experiment methodology can be found here.

About the National Education Union

The National Education Union stands up for the future of education. It brings together the voices of half a million teachers, lecturers, support staff and leaders working in maintained and independent schools and colleges across the UK, to form the largest education union in Europe.

It is an independent, registered trade union and professional association, representing its members in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands.

The National Education Union is affiliated to the Trades Union Congress (TUC), European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) and Education International (EI). It is not affiliated to any political party and seeks to work constructively with all the main political parties.

About the Coalition

A growing coalition of partners is backing the ‘Robbed: Big Tech’s Little Victims’ campaign. Representing teachers, parents and healthcare professionals, these partners include:

• Centre for Young Lives
• Mumsnet
• Parentkind
• Reel It In
• Health Professionals for Safer Screens
• The New Britain Project
• Damian McBeath, School Principal, The John Wallis Church of England Academy
• Will Orr-Ewing, Founder, Keystone Tutors