Campaign to tackle spread of violence across social media launched

A new national campaign has been launched to stop children from spreading violent content across social media and boost online safety.

The initiative, named Quit Fighting For Likes, aims to get children to think before filming and sharing violent incidents.

Developed by the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, YouthLink Scotland and Medics Against Violence, the campaign is part of an action plan agreed in the Scottish Government’s Violence Prevention Framework, which published in May last year.

Via animations and memes, the campaign hopes to teach young people “to switch off” from damaging content.

Speaking at the launch of the campaign in Edinburgh, minister for community safety Siobhian Brown said: “While social media can play a positive role in young people’s lives, helping them engage with their friends and family, it can also be a platform where violent imagery is spread. This campaign will encourage young people to switch off and not share harmful content.

“Scotland’s Violence Prevention Framework is making encouraging progress with a number of partner initiatives focused on prevention and early intervention so that communities across Scotland remain safe and more people live free from the threat of violence.”

The campaign follows on from several pupils sharing and filming violence on school grounds.

It also comes after figures showed the number of violent incidents in Scottish schools had soared by more than 50 per cent since the last pre-pandemic school year.

Tim Frew, chief executive of YouthLink Scotland, the national agency for youth work, said: “Young people have told us time and time again that they need help to navigate social media. It is crucial that adults who live and work with young people are confident in providing trusting and non-judgemental support.

“As the national agency for youth work, we are proud to have collaborated on this important campaign, embedding a youth work approach to the resources to start the conversation and upskill practitioners working with young people. By working and learning alongside young people, the toolkit supports young people to make informed, positive and, importantly, safe choices online.”

Christine Goodall, founder of Medics Against Violence, added: “As health professionals, we recognise the impact that may have on encouraging young people to get involved in violence, risking injury, and the long-term psychological impact on those filmed when their images are shared in the online space, without their consent or knowledge.

“This campaign is important to us because we understand from speaking to young people how conflicted they are about social media and the peer pressure they face to join in with image-sharing activities. We wanted to produce something that would reflect their views and would support them to take a stand against activity which is both damaging and pervasive.”