This revelation should make everyone doubt social media platforms' ability to keep our kids safe online

Recently, the head of the Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland, Bernie McNally, revealed something that shook me to the core. She told the audience that representatives of some of the world’s biggest social media platforms confirmed having no knowledge of what had already been described as “the UK’s largest catfishing case.”

In case you aren’t aware, the term ‘catfishing’ is used when a person assumes a fake identity in the online world to exploit and abuse others.

The case in question involved Alexander McCartney, a 26-year old who, as per this BBC report, is now “one of the world’s most prolific online child abusers.” He is reported to have abused “as many as 3500 victims, aged 10 to 16, from more than 30 countries.” This includes manslaughter of a 12-year-old US girl.

McCartney primarily used Snapchat for his evil acts, but is reported to have used other social media sites – including Instagram and Kik – as well. He was jailed for life back in October last year.

McNally, while speaking at the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee recently, revealed that during a meeting with representatives of major social media platforms in December last year, when she mentioned the Alexander McCartney case, she was shocked to know that none of the reps confirmed having any knowledge about the case.

This is what she said:

And we are expected to believe that these platforms can keep our children safe online

Fair point, I’d say. I mean, the case was all over in the media, so it’s difficult for anyone to even believe these representatives when they said they haven’t heard anything about it.

And if they weren’t lying, then it begs another, even bigger, question: Can these platforms be trusted with the online safety of our kids?

Meta – which owns Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp – boasts about their Teen Accounts feature whenever there’s a discussion about child safety on their platforms. Similarly, Snapchat refers to their Family Centre feature in similar scenarios.

But the point is, if you aren’t even aware of the biggest criminal cases that involve children on your platforms, it’s very difficult to trust you with all your other offerings and efforts on this front.

This revelation by McNally even shocked UK’s Internet regulatory authority OfCom. Here’s what an OfCom rep said on the matter:

Well, that’s absolutely shocking that they hadn’t heard of the case. I’m astounded by that

Apart from this shocking revelation, McNally also touched upon several other serious matters related to social media. For example, she revealed that children as young as nine are able to normally access vile pornography through social media platforms, a problem she termed as “just beyond belief.”

She also touched upon the issue of misogyny as well as online violence against girls and women. You can read the full BCC report here.

In case you missed, I recently reported on how kids around the world are crossing the line when it comes to the time they are spending online, and the fact that surveys are consistently revealing that social media is bad for kids mental health. It has come to a point where even the governments are intervening with rules and proposed bills that aim at restricting social media usage until a certain age.