Youth Activists have Gathered Outside Meta's London Offices to Protest How the Company Allegedly Exploits Youner Users For Profit at the Expense of Their Mental Health, AS PART OF Ructural drivers of mental illness.
On 4 February 2025, Around 20 Youth Activists with Experience of Online Harms Staged a Protest Outside Meta's Euston Offices- Where they unfurled banners reading In ” – to draw attention to the ways in Which the social media giant's business model contributes to negative mental health outs.
CORDINATED BY PATRATMENT-A PATENT-LED Health Justice Organization-And LED by Young People Aged 18 to 30 with Direct Live Experience of Mental Illness (Including PTSD, Anorexia, Anorexia, Anorexia Ion marks the launch of their Mad Youth Organise (Myo) CampaignWhich is intended to highlight the role corporate power plays in creating the conditions that young people are forced to live under.
DURING The Protest Outside Meta Offices – Which Forced Its Employees INTO Using The Back Entrances – Activists highlighted a number of issues to compute, to compute, incidence problems ar Cyber BullyingContent that promotes suicide or self-harm being served to vulnerable people, the various forms of dysmorphia caused by the constant barrage of unrealist body images, and the general forest of the general lacque safeguarding For young people.
All of this, they said, is underpinned by addictive algorithms that are designed to keep people hoOked on the platform and the harmful content it's feeding them.
They highlighted how, in the US, Meta is currently being sued in 41 states For Allegedly Building Addressive Features ITS Instagram and Facebook Platforms.
Computer weekly contacted meta about the protest and the protestors' claims, but received no response by time of publication.
Social media fueling depression
Speaking with Computer Weekly About How She Has Been Personally Affected by Social Media Use from A Young Age, One of the Myo Campaigners, Gigi El-Halaby, Gigi El-Halaby, Said IT Ion, and Ultimately Led to a Suicide Attempt.
“I used to spend hours on social media as a vulnerable teenager, and it was hours of social comparison and really unrealistic beauty standards, and also a lot of harssment, Cyber Bully Really fuelled my distress, “She said , Adding that in practice, social media is islating people from one another and undermining their chances of forming the genuine “Community and Connection” That is Needed to Improve Many Young PEOPLE
“I know i'm not alone in this. I know that millions of young people feel the same way, and there's no accountability at all from the social media firms that are actually driving this crisis. “
To help alleviate the pressures placed on young people by meta and other social media companies, the activities are called on the uk government to for force these companies to pay finnace Ely and Approves Mental Health Care for Young People Accross Britain ; where Hundreds of Thousands of Children are Stuck on long waiting lists to access vital services.
“I want social media platforms to stop pretending like Alaby, who described the Levy Being proposed as a “social media tax” that can help young people get the support
However, their calls for financial compensation Property developers, fossil fuel giants and private healthcare Providers.
The Myo Campaign's “Week of Action” Ents receive in comparison with private paying patients; The home builders federation, a Trade Association PRIVATE SECTOR SECTOR MEMEBULDERS in England and Wales; And an undisclosed big oil corporation.
Breaking Monopoly Power
According to a manifesto Published by the Group, Current Conversations Around Mental Health Onse to the brutal, traumatising and destructive conditions Created under capitalism ”.
Highlighting the collective social experiences of myo participants and other young people, the manifesto adds that they have grown up under the “Suffocating weighting weighting“ of austerity; Are trapped in a cycle of zero-her contracts; Have Never Had Stable Access to Housing; And are ultimately the generation that will have to live with the consortes of climate change.
Regarding Big Tech Specifically, It Added that these firms “Profit from Suffering, Fears and Inserties” “Immense” mental toll.
“Ai and algorithms are more than just tools to improve tech giants' services; They're a system of psychological manipulation… Designed to Amplife Our Desires, Keep Us HOOKED, And, Most Importantly, Keep Us Consuming, “Wrote Myo, Noting Consult and extreme ”content to Keep Them Online and Generating Revenue for Social Media Firms. “That's why, to tackle the dangerous impacts of big tech companies, we must focus on breaking the monopoly power they wire.”
The Myo Campaign has already attracted support from Labor Mp Nadia Whittome, Who Said it's no wonder that one in five young people has a probable a probable man S the board.
“The Culprits of the Youth Mental Health Crisis are Clear: Years of Austerity, Combined with Unaccountable Corporations Exploiting Young People For Profit, Facilized by GovernMANMANMANMANMANMAN Esses but fails to meet the needs of young people, “She said .
“From Property Developers to Big Oil Companies, these corporates should be paid financial compensation for the harm they are doing. I will be working with my parlomentary colleagues to do this – and take meaningful action to end the crisis our young people are facing. “
Speaking with Computer Weekly About The Action Outseide Meta, Emma Hughes, Head of Organising and Campaigns at just just just treatment, also highlighted that harms ben Usiness models of social media firms is a monopoly issue of unaccountable power.
On top of making them pay compensation for the harms caused, sheid it would “Like to see some government regulation to break up these big tech monopolies, and force them to publishing anding [of how they work],
Pointing to the tech oligarchy that has rallied Around us president donald trump in the wake of his electionHughes Added that “It's an issue of power – they have so much so much Ery Dificult to regulate them into better behavior “.
She said that while the uk government's Online Safety Act is helpful in some ways, it fundamentally does not go far enough in tackling the road, which is the business models of social media and tech firms.
Hughes concluded that when the web of corporate interests and economic policies making life Difacity for Young People are certainly Powerful, “Strategic, Determine Ch as the myo campaign can be effective in production change.
“It's not going to be an easy overnight win, but you can achieve changes with actually quite small resources,” She said, highlighting a Previous Campaign That just treatment Ran in collaboration with familys and other grassroots organisations S.
“We formed that corporation to drop their prices by shaming them and forcing governments to look it, so there are tools available to challenge corporate power,” called hoghes.