<\/p>\n
An internet safety campaign backed by US tech companies has been accused of censoring two teenagers they invited to speak out about the biggest issues facing children online.<\/p>\n
Childnet, a UK charity part-funded by companies including Snap, Roblox<\/a> and Meta, edited out warnings from Lewis Swire and Saamya Ghai that social media addiction was an \u201cimminent threat to our future\u201d and obsessive scrolling was making people \u201csick\u201d, according to a record of edits seen by the Guardian.<\/p>\n Swire, then 17, from Edinburgh, and Ghai, then 14, from Buckinghamshire, had been asked to speak at an event to mark Safer Internet Day in 2024 in London in front of representatives from government, charities and tech companies.<\/p>\n The tech-backed charity also edited out references to children feeling unable to stop using TikTok<\/a> and Snap, social media exacerbating a \u201cdevastating epidemic\u201d of isolation, and a passage questioning why people would want to spend years of their lives \u201cscrolling TikTok and binge-watching Netflix\u201d, the edits show.<\/p>\n The 2026 iteration of the Childnet-run event takes place on Tuesday with more than 2,800 schools and colleges listed<\/a> as supporters. Childnet, whose core purpose is \u201chelping to make the internet a great and safe place for children\u201d, is one of several internet safety charities part-funded by tech companies.<\/p>\n Childnet denied making edits to keep tech funders happy and insisted it would not stop young people making their points. Aspects of the approved speech did acknowledge that excessive screen time had led to depression and anxiety, and that social media companies should reduce the use of devices such as notifications, autoplay and streaks to prolong user engagement.<\/p>\n But Swire said he had \u201cfelt censored\u201d by the charity\u2019s handling of their speeches.<\/p>\n One line cut warned: \u201cYoung people are begging for a rope to pull them from the quicksand\u201d and described social media as \u201cone of the worst psychological addictions in history\u201d.<\/p>\n Another was: \u201cSocial media companies are in bed with the very same psychology used to exploit gambling victims.\u201d When Swire found out this had been removed at the last minute, he scribbled a similar line back into his speech.<\/p>\n \u201cI was pretty surprised because at this stage I didn\u2019t know there was a conflict of interest with where their funding was coming from,\u201d said Swire, who was at the time a member of Childnet\u2019s youth advisory board. \u201cI felt like we were being censored and almost betrayed by this organisation which we wanted to represent with integrity. It was a pretty difficult experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Ghai, now 16, said: \u201cIt was quite shocking because the stuff that they deleted was bringing to light a lot of things that were happening in the industry. It felt hypocritical because they were asking us to speak up against this and then at the same time they watered down what we wanted to say so much.\u201d<\/p>\n Swire said some of the cuts became apparent only in a final paper copy of the speech handed to them shortly before they were due to speak.<\/p>\n Will Gardner, the Childnet chief executive, denied making edits to keep tech funders happy.<\/p>\n \u201cIf young people want to make a point we allow them to make a point but there are constraints \u2013 not due to who gives us money, there are constraints in the nature of the event that we\u2019re running, and the time constraints,\u201d he said. \u201cWe would certainly advise and edit around tone and language but we wouldn\u2019t stop young people making a point.\u201d<\/p>\n He said it was \u201cnot true\u201d that edits were made if proposed content could compromise the charity\u2019s relationship with its social media company funders.<\/p>\n \u201cI completely refute that,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause we work in the online safety space we do get some funding from tech companies \u2026 but that doesn\u2019t compromise our voice.\u201d<\/p>\n Daisy Greenwell, the co-founder of the Smartphone Free Childhood campaign, said teenagers \u201cshould not be asked to censor themselves to protect the commercial interests of Big Tech\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cYoung people\u2019s voices are often positioned as the moral authority in debates about online safety, but too often those voices are only welcomed when they align with an organisation\u2019s existing policy position,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen young people are filtered until they echo a pre-approved line, that isn\u2019t participation \u2013 it\u2019s cover.\u201d<\/p>\n Harry Amies, the co-founder of Unplug.Scot, a network of parents in Scotland concerned about the impact of screens and educational technology in classrooms, said: \u201cThe evidence that Lewis has presented has left us speechless. Most parents across the UK will be shocked to learn that Safer Internet Day is actually funded by Snapchat<\/a> and other addictive social media platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n Swire, now 19, is campaigning for a social media ban for under-16s. In his original version of his speech, he wrote about a schoolfriend who had told him he felt \u201cterrible\u201d about spending 40 hours a week on social media and wished he could stop, but couldn\u2019t because \u201cI can\u2019t delete TikTok because I make \u00a310 a month on the app. I can\u2019t delete Twitter because that\u2019s where I get my footy news. I can\u2019t remove Snapchat because I\u2019ll lose my streak.\u201d This did not appear in the final speech.<\/p>\n Another cut section mentioned research showing \u201cexcessive social media consumption is exacerbating a devastating epidemic of loneliness\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n #felt #hypocritical #child #internet #safety #campaign #accused #censoring #teenagers #speeches #Internet #safety<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An internet safety campaign ba… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19959"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}