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Case studies

Changing policy on children’s social media access

Client: National Education Union

Services: Campaigns and Coalitions

Year: 2025-present

Changing policy on children’s social media access

The Brief

The National Education Union (NEU) wanted to force action on one of the most urgent issues facing children today: the harm caused by social media platforms designed to maximise attention and profit. Teachers and parents were seeing the consequences every day, from anxiety, sleep disruption and poor concentration to the spread of misogynistic, extremist and harmful content. But in April 2025, the Government said it would not support an Australia-style ban on social media for under-16s, while much of the debate remained focused on smartphones and screen time. Our challenge was to help shift the conversation towards the real issue: profit-driven algorithms harming children in real time.

The Work

We built the campaign around a simple truth: children are being robbed of childhood for profit.

 

This framing transformed a complex policy issue into a clear moral argument, shifting responsibility from parents and young people to the social media companies profiting from their attention. We brought the idea to life through an integrated campaign spanning media, social, creative, paid and public affairs, alongside our partners Inflect.

The campaign launched with The Robbed Report, combining polling, teacher testimony and policy recommendations with a Westminster stunt featuring “wanted” posters of Big Tech billionaires. To sustain momentum, we created The Algorithm Experiment, using fictional 13-year-old social media profiles to reveal how quickly harmful content was served by major platforms.

As pressure mounted and the Government wrapped up its public consultation, we deployed a final campaign moment designed to maximise political pressure at a critical decision point, keeping the issue front and centre in both the media and Westminster.

The Impact

More than 400 pieces of coverage, with a combined reach of 3 billion, helped turn the harms caused by children’s social media use into a national conversation and built pressure for Government action. The Algorithm Experiment generated 8 million views and 90,000 engagements, became Good Morning Britain’s top story and was one of its best-performing social posts of the year. The campaign short film received more than 843,000 organic views, with a 5.63% engagement rate. We delivered 37 MP briefings and a parliamentary drop-in attended by 18 MPs and peers, taking the campaign’s case directly to decision-makers. Four major social media platforms publicly responded to the pressure created by the campaign. The campaign culminated in a major policy shift, with plans announced to ban social media access for under-16s and the NEU credited by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology as a key campaigner on the issue.

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