Social media sites failing to protect girls from harm at every stage NSPCC

Social media platforms are failing to protect women and girls from harm at every stage, according to new research from the NSPCC.

The children’s charity created fake profiles of a teenage girl across different sites, and found it was exposed to grooming, harassment and abuse across various platforms.

The research said many of the features used by platforms to encourage users to expand their online networks, as well as to be online and active for longer, were at the detriment of the user’s safety.

The study said it was often too easy for adult strangers to pick out girls online and send them unsolicited messages.

Alongside the report, the NSPCC has published polling carried out on its behalf by YouGov which found 86% of UK adults believe tech companies are not doing enough to protect women and girls online.

The survey of just over 3,500 adults found parents with daughters listed contact from strangers, online grooming, bullying and sexual abuse or harassment as their biggest concerns about their children being online.

More than half of the parents surveyed (52%) expressed concern over their daughter’s online experiences.

Rani Govender, policy manager for child safety online at the NSPCC, said: “Parents are absolutely right to be concerned about the risks their daughters are being exposed to online, with this research making it crystal clear that tech companies are not doing nearly enough to create age-appropriate experiences for girls.

“We know both on and offline, girls face disproportionate risks of harassment, sexual abuse, and exploitation. That’s why it’s so worrying that these platforms are fundamentally unsafe by design – employing features and dark patterns that are putting girls in potentially dangerous situations.

“There needs to be a complete overhaul of how these platforms are built. This requires tech companies and Ofcom to step up and address how poor design can lead to unsafe spaces for girls.

“At the same time Government must lay out in their upcoming Violence Against Women and Girls strategy steps to help prevent child sexual offences and tackle the design failures of social media companies that put girls in harm’s way.”

The children’s charity said social media sites should introduce “abusability studies” to identify risky features that included an analysis based on gender, as well as integrate screenshot capabilities into reporting tools, introduce “cooling off” periods when two users first connect to restrict contact, and place stricter measures on non-trusted adults from being able to video-call younger users.

Under the Online Safety Act, platforms are required to carry out risk assessments to establish how and if their sites could pose a risk to children.

Firms which breach the new online safety rules, which also include duties to protect children from encountering harm on their sites, can be fined up to £18 million or 10% of global turnover, whichever is higher, and in the most serious cases face being blocked in the UK.

A Government spokesperson said: “Every child deserves to grow up in a safe online world so they can have the best start in life. For too long, harmful content has been just a click away and, as this research shows, girls are often disproportionately exposed to harassment and abuse.

“In order to halve violence against women and girls within a decade we must also tackle it online as well as offline, and this will be a key component of our upcoming cross-Government strategy.

“The Online Safety Act already requires platforms to prevent illegal material appearing on their sites. From this summer they must also introduce robust age checks and redesign platform features – including algorithms – to stop children being served harmful content they often aren’t even seeking.

“We expect these new laws to create a safer digital world, but we won’t hesitate to go further and have already commissioned research into the impact of social media and smartphones on children’s well-being to help inform next steps in this space.”

Published: 14/05/2025 by Radio NewsHub