Church of England attacks 'irresponsible' social media companies amid claims of children being harmed

The Church of England has criticised “irresponsible” social media giants for failing to do enough to protect children from online “harms” including abuse, bullying and low self-esteem.

Backing The Daily Telegraph’s Duty of Care campaign, the Right Reverend Rachel Treweek, the Bishop of Gloucester who has led Church campaigns on social media, said the firms’ excuses for failing to take action and denials about the risks were no longer sustainable.

“They should stop wringing their hands and saying it’s all too complex. I am not technologically minded but I don’t believe it’s impossible to develop algorithms that could tackle these issues,” said Rt Rev Treweek, the first female diocesan bishop in the history of the Church of England.

“They say it is all too difficult. They say they are not promoting their businesses but are doing it because they want young people to have access to things that will help their relationships. I want to say to the companies: Be honest and look at what you could do responsibly.”

In particular, she said the firms should give young people a bigger say in taking down offensive or abusive material that upset them, do it more quickly and inform them of what action had been taken.

“Young people should have some way of being in control of stuff being removed,” she said.

Rt Rev Treweek, the first female bishop in the House of Lords, also endorsed night-time restrictions on young people’s access to social media and phones as well as deactivating features that encouraged them to stay online and was to blame for children’s “addiction” to the technology.

“I was utterly shocked when I met one group of girls who had been on the Sarahah app and told me how awful it was, how it was all anonymous and people could just abuse them,” she said.

“I asked why do you use it if it’s causing all this angst and upset. The answer was this addiction, that if you are on an app, then you crave this positive affirmation.

“They really long for and hope that someone is going to say that really affirming thing but what you discover is that that rarely happens.”

It was why she supported night-time restrictions and bans on mobile phones in schools, as had been introduced for younger pupils at her local Stroud High School where it was helping break children’s dependency on social media.

“I have been shocked at children saying that although they don’t want to use their phones late at night, they have this fear that they are going to miss out,” said Rt Rev Treweek.

“That goes back to how we value ourselves. If we feel our value is coming from how many likes we get, then how are we helping young people relate to one another. That whole relationship needs to be addressed.”

She welcomed The Daily Telegraph’s campaign for a legal duty of care on social media and gaming firms to protect children from online harms as “very powerful” but said there was also a deeper societal problem with people’s loneliness and isolation. “We are not working at human relationships,” she said.

Rt Rev Treweek recently initiated a campaign entitled #liedentity, to encourage young people to value their worth beyond physical appearances following research showing social media and advertising was damaging children’s self-esteem.

Next week she will launch an extension of the campaign entitled #say1thing which will encourage people to share one thing they value in a friend or member of a family, and then post a picture that supports it. “Who you are begins on the inside and then you express that outwardly,” she said.

As Britain’s first female bishop, Rt Rev Treweek has been outspoken, for example supporting the #MeToo movement over sexual harassment with a warning that it would be dangerous to believe it did not exist in the Church of England.

It came as Matt Hancock, the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, insisted that social media firms and other technology giants are not too big to regulate.

Speaking at an event hosted by the Politico website, he said: "There was an attitude that pervaded for a generation that these companies are global and therefore you can't regulate them. Not true.

"That the technology changes fast and therefore you can't regulate it. Not true. That people don't understand and therefore we can't regulate it. Also not true."