I was furious to learn social media platforms are placing children in danger - here's how they can put things right

"At first I thought they were coming from just one person, so I blocked them. But then I realised the stuff was coming from loads of random people I don’t know.”

It’s a far from uncommon story. The children’s charity NSPCC created fake profiles of a teenage girl across different sites, and found it was exposed to grooming, harassment and abuse. The charity’s research found that many of the features used by platforms to encourage users to expand their networks and stay online for longer are placing girls in danger. The NSPCC’s concerns are supported by its YouGov polling of 3,593 adults which found that most respondents (86 per cent) believe tech companies are doing too little to protect girls under the age of 18 on their platforms. Around half of the parents surveyed (52 per cent) expressed concern over their daughter’s online experiences.

Rani Govender, NSPCC’s policy manager for child safety online, said the research makes it clear that tech companies are not doing nearly enough to create “age-appropriate” experiences for girls.

"We know both on and offline girls face disproportionate risks of harassment, sexual abuse, and exploitation. That’s why it’s so worrying that these platforms are fundamentally unsafe by design, employing features and dark patterns that are putting girls in potentially dangerous situations."

Under the Online Safety Act, platforms are required to carry out risk assessments to establish how and if their sites could pose a risk to children. Firms which breach the new online safety rules, which also include duties to protect children from encountering harm on their sites, can be fined up to £18 million or 10 per cent of global turnover, whichever is higher, and in the most serious cases face being blocked in the UK. A Government spokesperson said the Online Safety Act already requires platforms to prevent illegal material appearing on their sites.

From this summer they must also introduce “robust” age checks and redesign platform features – including algorithms – to stop children being exposed to harmful content.

The spokesman added: “We expect these new laws to create a safer digital world, but we won’t hesitate to go further and have already commissioned research into the impact of social media and smartphones on children’s well-being to help inform next steps in this space.”

Although these measures are welcome, more action is needed. The children’s charity is right to call on the tech giants to carry out their own ‘abusability studies’ to find risky features and functionalities, as well as testing any new feature before rolling it out. Social media apps must also introduce a 'cooling off' period once a connection is made between users and impose a ban to stop non-trusted adults from video calling children. Time is running out for social media giants to get their house in order.

Greg Wright is the deputy business editor of The Yorkshire Post