European countries should implement measures to better protect the mental health of children and adolescents from harm caused by social media, the WHO has recommended in a new policy document.
The document calls on government, industry and civil society to take immediate action to make digital spaces safer, healthier and more equitable for young people. It also recommends involving health authorities and young people in drawing up policies and shifting the burden of proof for service providers from proving harm to proving safety.
This policy recommendation is relevant to Malta after, last October, an international study into children’s health revealed that Maltese teenagers ranked the second highest out of 44 countries for addiction-like social media use, with girls at higher risk than boys.
The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey had found that nearly one in four Maltese adolescents aged 11, 13 and 15 exhibited an addictive-like pattern of social media use.
This had spurred Natasha Azzopardi Muscat, WHO Europe’s director for Country Health Policies and Systems, to call for a national debate on regulating social media use among children and teenagers.
While no national discussion has started as yet, San Anton School ignited the conversation recently by launching an initiative to delay children’s access to smartphones and social media, to try to combat the rise of digital dependency and online harm from an early age.
Government open to national discussion
Equality and Reforms Junior Minister Rebecca Buttigieg has emphasised the urgent need to regulate social media platforms, stating their impact can no longer be ignored. Prime Minister Robert Abela said children under the age of 13 could have their access to social media restricted by law.
Asked if there were plans to take this to a national level, the Education Ministry said it is “open to wider national discussions on this issue” adding that any action must be “balanced and based on what’s best for children, both in and out of school”.
The ministry noted that the Family and Community School Link programme, launched last year, was a key step in this direction.
Involving young people themselves
The policy brief – developed by WHO/Europe, together with the Polish Ministry of Health and the Digital Transformations for Health Lab (DTH-Lab) – had one key message: that the digital environment, from social media to AI-driven platforms, is a documented risk to the mental health of children and adolescents in the WHO European Region – but countries can already work to protect them
The document reviewed existing policies used across 42 countries. It found that many national policies place heavy responsibility on users and caregivers – for example, through following recommended age restrictions on social media and setting parental controls on devices.
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Other initiatives focus on improving digital literacy among young people to help them navigate the online environment safely.
More recent policies show a greater focus on tackling addictive platform design and enforcing regulation of the industry.
“We need to adopt polices and regulations that are targeted, enforceable and informed by evidence,” said Azzopardi-Muscat, adding: “And importantly, ensuring young people participate in shaping these developments will allow countries to create policies that actually have impact, because they fit young people’s needs and preferences.”
Risks to be managed
The document noted that children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable to the risks associated with online environments owing to their developmental stage.
“Extensive research has been conducted over the past five years on the relationship between young people’s technology use and various mental health outcomes including depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide-related behaviours, and well-being outcomes such as loneliness, low self-esteem and stress.”
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Studies have identified a range of harms that young people are exposed to online, including cyberbullying, violence, pornography, pressure to obtain an unrealistic or unhealthy physical appearance or lifestyle, sextortion, self-harm and disordered eating triggers, marketing of harmful products, and gambling.
The study noted benefits to the use of social media, such as enabling self-expression and facilitating connection. It also noted that the effects of technology are not uniform across all young people: the most vulnerable young people disproportionately experience negative impacts. The document went on to list eight urgent policy actions.
The Education Ministry said it is ‘open to wider national discussions on this issue’ adding that any action must be ‘balanced and based on what’s best for children, both in and out of school’. Photo: Shutterstock.com
Urgent policy actions
• Making digital well-being a national public health priority
• Regulating platform design to limit addictive and harmful features
• Empowering health workers to guide safe tech use
• Supporting youth-led digital governance
• Increasing investment in offline alternatives to screen-based entertainment
• Applying proven, intersectoral public health strategies to improve digital well-being
• Developing clear guidance on digital well-being and healthy technology use
• Holding industry and commercial interests to account.