Experts are raising alarm as recent research reveals that hundred of thousand of very young children in the UK are already engaging with social media in ways that could be harmful.
Analysis by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) suggested that more than 800,000 children aged between three and five are already active on social media platforms.
The major concern is that the content and algorithms on these platforms are designed to grab the attention of adults, not children which could negatively affect the children's development, wellbeing and safety online, as per Sky News.
Lord John Nash, a former education minister described the findings as "deeply alarming."
He called for "a major public health campaign so parents better understand the damage being done, and legislation that raises the age limit for social media to 16 whilst holding tech giants to account when they fail to keep children off their platforms".
Out of 2.2 million children in this age group, around 814,000 are estimated to be active users which is 220,000 more than the previous year.
Considering this, many officials are emphasizing that there should be laws restricting social media use for children under 16, similar to those implemented in Australia.
