Emilie Silverwood-Cope: Are adults leading children by example on social media?

There’s been a lot of discussion this month about how children behave online, what they watch and how appalling the consequences can be in real life.

The debate continues about what are the workable safety measures and who is responsible for implementing them. All those unlikeable tech CEOs keep telling us that they do really, genuinely care about our children so please don’t delete those accounts. Safety is on their to-do list. We also have politicians wading in demanding better controls or promising better controls.

Meanwhile, schools run Safer Internet initiatives about what children should do to keep themselves safe from the types of harm they can’t even imagine. They are told they should take care of their digital footprint, ignore types like Andrew Tate, resist dangerous TikTok challenges, keep themselves safe from bullying, avoid becoming a bully or even part of a screaming online mob.