Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect on children’s mental health of anonymous abuse and threats made on social media platforms.

We have not made such a specific assessment. However, in February the Chief Medical Officers published their independent systematic map of evidence on screen and social media use in children and young people, and recommended next steps and advice for parents and carers. They concluded that the published scientific research is currently insufficient to support evidence-based guidelines on screen time, but there is enough basis to warrant a precautionary approach and action by schools, government and technology companies.

For children and young people, we know that there can be a link between very high levels of social media use and poorer mental health. Data from the Understanding Society survey indicates that children who spent more than three hours using social networking websites on a school day were twice as likely to report high or very high scores for mental ill-health than those who spent less than three hours on social media. However, it is unclear whether increased use causes poorer mental health or whether poorer mental health increases social media use.