When news broke last week that US political influencer Charlie Kirk had been shot at an event at Utah Valley University, millions of people around the world were first alerted to it by social media before journalists had written a word.
Rather than first seeing the news on a mainstream news website, footage of the bloody and public assassination was pushed directly onto audiences’ social media feeds. There weren’t any editors deciding whether the raw footage was too distressing, nor warnings before clips auto-played.
Australia’s eSafety commissioner called on platforms to shield children from the footage, noting “all platforms have a responsibility to protect their users by quickly removing or restricting illegal harmful material”.
This is the norm in today’s media environment: extreme violence often bypasses traditional media gatekeepers and can reach millions of people, including children, instantly. This has wide-ranging impacts on young people – and on society at large.
A wide range of violence
Young people are more likely than older adults to come across violent and disturbing content online. This is partly because they are more frequent users of platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and X.
Research from 2024 from the United Kingdom suggests a majority of teenagers have seen violent videos in their feeds.
The violence young people see on social media ranges from schoolyard fights and knife attacks to war footage and terrorist attacks.
The footage is often visceral, raw and unexpected.
A wide range of harms
Seeing this kind of violent footage on social media can make some children not want to leave the house.
Research also shows engaging with distressing media can cause symptoms similar to trauma, especially if the violence feels close to our own lives.
Research shows social media is not simply a mirror of youth violence but also a vector for it, with bullying, gang violence, dating aggression, and even self-directed violence playing out online. Exposure to these harms can have a negative effect on young people’s mental health, behaviour and academic performance.
For others, violent content on social media risks “desensitisation”, where people become so used to suffering and violence they become less empathetic.
Communication scholars also point to cultivation theory – the idea in this case that people who consume more violent content begin to see the world as potentially more dangerous than it really is.
This potentially skewed perception can influence everyday behaviour even among those who do not directly experience violence.
Read more:
How images of knives intended to stop youth knife crime may actually be making things worse
A long history of violence
Violence distributed by media is as old as media itself.
The ancient Greeks painted their pottery with scenes of battles and slaying. The Romans wrote about their gladiators. Some of the first photographs ever taken were of the Crimean War.