Social media operators must be “brought to heel” for the misery and disruption they are causing to the lives of students, teachers and parents, according to a senior school leader. Manny Botwe, the president of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), will tell the association’s annual conference that teachers are reporting increased bullying, abuse and the malicious use of “deepfakes” against pupils and staff through social media. “This chaos must end.
For too long, tech billionaires have been given immense power without accountability. They hide behind the defence that they are champions of free speech while profiting from platforms that allow harm to fester,” Botwe, the headteacher of a state secondary school in Macclesfield, is expected to say on Friday. “But enough is enough.
It is time to bring these platforms to heel and force them to police their own spaces. Related: Teacher vacancy rates at record high in England, report finds “As a society, we have the right to demand the protection of our children, the enforcement of decency and the upholding of standards. That right must be asserted.
” A survey commissioned by the ASCL found that online bullying between students through social media was reported by nearly three-quarters of secondary school teachers and half of primary school teachers. Despite popular social media platforms in the UK requiring a minimum age of 13 to sign up, more than 70% of primary teachers said they were aware of y.
