Mayor invests £5m to prevent social media harm

London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan is set to invest £5m into a city-wide strategy to protect young people from some of the harmful effects of the online world.

The announcement comes after research commissioned by City Hall suggested social media algorithms that promote violent and misogynistic content could fuel conflicts between youngsters.

The Violence Reduction Unit will build on its previous work by helping young people de-escalate disputes, identifying those at risk of online harm and specialist training for youth workers.

The London Conservatives said this was "another example of Sadiq Khan trying to blame social media for people daring to notice that crime in London has soared on his watch".

Nisien.ai - the report's authors - believe social media may have "changed the scale" of existing disputes between young people, making them public, mass events, generating pressure to respond and making it harder for them to escape from.

Their study - Social Media and Offline Violence - aimed to explore any role social media may have played in fuelling violence and misogyny in real world settings.

They used data from tracking social media posts on X to identify associations in online activity and real world violence.

They did not find any statistical links using this method.

However, they drew on the experience of focus groups formed of young people and youth workers. They concluded there was a possible link between conflicts on public platforms and those in private channels, group chats, and across platforms with disappearing messages.

Ana Babić, associate research director of M&C Saatchi World Services, which supported the research, said: "What stayed with us whilst delivering this research was how clearly young people understand the world they're navigating.

"They described being served violent and misogynistic content they never asked for, the pressure that builds when a dispute goes public, and how hard it can be to step back once an audience is watching.

"If there's one message from this research, it's that young people are not the problem - they're an essential part of the solution.

"They told us that friends stepping in matters, that trusted adults matter, and that they want online spaces that work for them rather than against them," Babić said.

Sir Sadiq Khan, who recently supported a ban on social media for children under 16, said: "I have consistently warned of the scourge of algorithms promoting hate, division and intentionally serving up both violent and misogynistic content.

"My Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) will coordinate a London-wide approach to tackling the scourge of online harms for young people, backed up with £5m investment to deliver a range of interventions."

The mayor's plans include:

• A "bystander de-escalation programme" to give youngsters the skills to intervene in disputes and prevent them turning violent
• Helping councils to better identify young people who have been harmed online and who may present a risk to others
• A training programme to help youth workers engage with young people online
• Mentoring for girls and young women who may be at risk of online abuse or violence
• Schemes to provide positive male role models to challenge masculine ideologies at school, at home and through football
• Training teachers and parents on how to better support young people online.

The VRU has previously introduced schemes to help young people build confidence in the online world, but these measures are more-wide ranging than ever before, City Hall said.

Susan Hall, leader of the Conservative group at City Hall criticised the mayor, accusing him of blaming social media for a rise in violent crime in London.

"Yet again he has commissioned 'research' to try to prove what he thinks, but this time he can't even manage that – with his own press release admitting the data analysis didn't find a statistical link between violent content online and physical violence off it.

"So of course his next step is to spend money on any number of flashy initiatives in the hope we all ignore that his failure to properly fund the Metropolitan Police means there are now fewer police officers in London than when he was first elected.

"I will be genuinely amazed if this funding makes any difference at all, but I'm sure Sadiq Khan will commission some more research to prove otherwise."

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