Natalie Cassidy on what teens see on social media: ‘I cannot tell you how shocking it is’

Natalie Cassidy has taken part in her fair share of harrowing storylines during more than 30 years of starring in EastEnders.

There’s been violence, murders, explosions, teen pregnancies and imprisonment – but nothing more disturbing then the images her 15-year-old daughter is potentially exposed to every day on social media.

Cassidy, who played Sonia Fowler in the BBC soap on and off from 1993 until last year, is supporting a campaign to raise the age of social media access to 16, as she’s terrified of what her 15-year-old daughter Eliza, and when the time comes, her nine-year-old daughter Joanie, could be unwittingly exposed to on social media platforms.

The campaign, Big Tech’s Little Victims, has just run an algorithm experiment to uncover what children are shown by algorithm-driven platforms when they sign up to social media at 13 – the minimum user age set by many platforms. The experiment created four fictional profiles on TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube, based on typical 13-year-old girls and boys in the UK.

In just a week, the profiles were served hundreds of pieces of concerning content, and Cassidy says: “I cannot tell you how shocking it is – they are looking at sexualised content, racism, violence, misogyny, extreme dieting going towards anorexia, self-harming and even suicidal idealisation. It’s incredible.

“I am a mum with kids, and we are alwho lowing our children to have these things because of the pressures of being left out, peer pressure at school. It’s their way of communication, but it is so dangerous.”

Cassidy, 42, says she “naively” gave in to Eliza’s begging to be allowed to go on social media when she was 13. But since being alerted to the risk of children being repeatedly exposed to undesirable content, she’s asked her daughter what she’s seen.

She says: “Eliza and I have a great relationship, and I’ve said to her I’m really worried – what do you see? And she said, ‘Mum, I don’t see any of that. I’m fine’.

“But I don’t know whether they’re just desensitised to it – I don’t know whether it does just pop up, but it’s just so normal for her to see. I don’t believe for a minute that she isn’t seeing those things.

“I saw videos yesterday, which I promise you are coming up on 13-year-old’s phones, on what’s the best knife to have. If you haven’t got a knife with writing on the side, then you’re not cool. It said you need a proper knife, not just one from a cook shop, and you need to get the big ones that the cool guys have got.

“It’s terrifying.”

Cassidy explains that during the Algorithm Experiment one of the adult women who was pretending to be a 13-year-old girl online had to stop participating because of what she’d seen.

“She had to come off the experiment after a few days because it was mentally upsetting her,” says Cassidy. “How are these companies and the Government allowing this? How is this possible?

“This campaign is saying we need to not do this. We need to stop these algorithms. This material should not be seen by children under 16. And quite frankly, I don’t want to see it either.

“Every single day that goes by, there’s another child joining up to these social media apps, and they’re seeing this harmful content. If you were to see the videos, there’s no adult in their right mind that’s going to go ‘Well, actually, I’m in favour of it’.”

The Big Tech’s Little Victims campaign is led by the National Education Union, whose general secretary, Daniel Kebede, says: “Children are being exposed to deeply harmful content on social media, even when platforms know their age. This is not accidental – it is how these systems are designed.

“The Government must act now and raise the age of social media access to 16. Every day of delay leaves thousands more children exposed to harm and exploitation.”

Cassidy points out that even if parents are aware their children are being exposed to potentially harmful content on social media, there’s very little they can do about it, unless the law changes, as it has in Australia, where under-16s are now banned from using major social media services.

She says: “It’s really difficult as a parent in this day and age to police your children’s phone – it’s impossible to be behind their back 24/7 looking at it.

“I remember saying to Eliza, ‘I don’t want you to go on social media until you’re 13’. The age limit is 13 and you’re putting your trust in that – it’s like watching a film with an age certificate. But when they do turn 13 and you allow them to have it, it’s impossible to police.”

Cassidy currently hosts the Life with Nat podcast, which she says is “a good old natter, all about parenting and life, and just the mundane things as well.

“What I hear from my listeners is they’re fed up with algorithms of everything being perfect – they quite like looking at me with no make-up on and just having a joke about the weather.”

But will she ever go back to EastEnders?

“I always say the same – never say never,” she says with a chuckle. “I left around this time last year, and Sonia’s living it up in Thailand. It’s nice to have a little rest for now, but she’s not dead, so who knows what adventures are next?”

For the moment though, she’s enjoying hosting the podcast, and says that, as with most other parents, juggling work with parenting can be a struggle. She points out: “You’re living on a knife edge every day, you’re not sure what choice they’re going to make, and you just have to be there to guide them, respect them, support them, and you’ve just got to hope they make the right decisions.

“They’re living in such a different world to when I grew up. I’m 43 this year, and I know it’s boring, but it’s true – we didn’t have to watch all of these images, and if you had a problem at school, at 3:30pm you came home and that was that, you had a rest from it, whereas with Snapchat and all of these things online, life is just 24/7 for these kids.

“It’s hard enough for us to deal with, let alone them.”

TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube have been connected for comment.