The Royal College of Psychiatrists, which represents psychiatrists working in the UK, urge the UK government to force social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to hand over their data on the type of materials users view, as well as the amount of time they spend on the platform, over to academics. The data will be part of research which aims to reduce rates of suicides and self-harm among young people.
Although most children and young people will be able to benefit from technology without negative effects, some may be vulnerable to compulsive use and potential harms, the report says. The college said any data shared would be anonymized (although this is trickier to guarantee than it sounds).
While this might be a good idea, the tech companies are unlikely to share this data. After all, they will only get a tiny incentive in doing this, and this could expose them to risk.
...individual users could potentially be reidentified from the data, for example, or people might choose to take legal action as a result of the findings.
Almost two years ago, a pair of Apple investors wrote an open letter to the company calling for it to do more to protect children from the supposedly damaging effects of digital technology. Not much changed as a result.
(Image Credit: geralt/ Pixabay)