Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee.
Unprecedented rates of depression, eating disorders, skyrocketing visits to the ER for self-harm, overdoses from drugs purchased through social media, and suicides and deaths caused by viral challenges are some of the harms scientifically proven to be caused by social media use. Today, I'll highlight three harms caused by social media and influencers on tween and teen girls. I will focus on girls because, according to research, girls use social media more than boys and are more vulnerable to it.
The first harm, performing for likes, is addictive. Many girls today strive not to experience life, but to stage experiences that will garner likes and elevate their status online. Social media's intermittent reward system, or notifications, capitalizes on this desire. Built by design to addict, these apps take advantage of adolescents' undeveloped brains, tethering girls to their phones, endlessly scrolling for affirmation and validation.
Let me give you an example of what this looks like for a 12-year-old girl. A few years ago, a plank challenge went viral. Girls soon discovered that if they positioned the camera at a certain angle in front of them, they could get more likes and be pushed up the algorithm ladder. Very quickly, girls learned that removing their bra would see an even more dramatic surge in responses. Despite the cruel comments and inappropriate requests from adult men, the brain registers the red notifications and releases dopamine, signalling to the brain to do it again and again.
A second harm on social media is regular exposure to highly sexual content. The prevalence and frequency of hypersexualized content have desensitized girls and contributed to a concerning trend whereby 25% of children view sending nudes as normal. Sharing nudes or self-generated child sexual abuse material opens the door to cyber-bullying, sextortion, sex trafficking and sexual exploitation, as well as a plethora of emotional and mental torment.
These two behaviours, the addictive dopamine cycle and the sexualization of children, create the perfect storm for another harm gaining momentum on social media: OnlyFans. OnlyFans is “pornified” social media with a monetary intermittent reward system. Technically, anyone over 18 can create and sell subscriptions to their own porn channel. Ask anyone working with youth today, and they will tell you it is common to hear girls say, “Only ugly girls get diplomas,” implying that when they turn 18, they plan to become an OnlyFans content creator—a more accurate term would be porn producer.
What's the connection to social media? Strategically, OnlyFans does not have a search bar. No one can log on to OnlyFans and find their favourite porn producer without a direct link, so where do 4.6 million porn producers market, recruit and normalize porn production and consumption? They do it on social media. OnlyFans and underground OnlyFans agencies have cultivated a culture of exploitation on social media, where they aggressively promote the illusion of freedom, wealth and empowerment, while softly grooming a generation to idealize becoming sex workers.
To be clear, content creators do not just produce porn. Many are in the sex trade. The small minority who make money openly normalize and glamorize sex work while insidiously masking and minimizing the many harms. On every social media platform—especially Instagram, TikTok, Snap and YouTube—OnlyFans influencers have hundreds of millions of followers. Many are underage girls who idolize them, follow their fashion tips and duplicate their cute TikTok dances. Underage girls even send in application videos in the hope of getting invited into this girl power community. All of this predatory grooming behaviour is promoted and normalized on social media.
The undeveloped adolescent brain and we as parents do not stand a chance against expert predators, nefarious algorithms and apps designed by neuroscientists, nor against the grooming tactics of a multi-billion dollar sex industry. The Canadian government must act quickly to intercede and protect childhood.
Thank you.