Thirty organisations representing young people across Europe have a message for the adults drafting laws in their name: don’t ban us from social media; make it safe. They are not the same thing.

In an open letter to European policymakers considering a possible ban, they put it simply: “The failure to address the root causes of harm does not justify our exclusion, not even temporarily.” The letter goes on: “Social media are far more than entertainment – especially for marginalised young people, including LGBTQIA , disabled, religious minorities and migrant communities. They are lifelines, offering access to information, community and support that may not exist elsewhere.”

The National Youth Council of Ireland and youth organisations nationwide have signed the letter. At a recent Oireachtas Committee hearing, a representative of the Ombudsman for Children’s Youth Advisory Panel said: “We do not believe that bans offer a meaningful solution. It simply puts the onus on teenagers to stay off social media, rather than making social media channels safer in the first place.”

The National Youth Assembly was asked to consider if children should be banned from social media; it recommended instead that the online world be made safe for children. The Online Health Taskforce, which spent a year considering this issue, made 10 robust recommendations, none of which supported a blanket ban of children from social media.

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