In the almost 30 years since Childnet was founded, we have always worked in pursuit of our mission to work with others to help make the internet a great and safe place for all children and young people. This partnership work has allowed us to ensure youth voice and experience is heard by a range of relevant bodies, including industry governments and more.
Although we make it our mission to work with these organisations, we protect our independence and ensure we have a space and platform to talk about policies which we think would cause risk for any children and young people online. That’s why, as part of the Meta Safety Advisory Council (SAC), we’ve signed a joint letter raising urgent concerns about Meta’s recent policy changes.
In January 2025, Meta announced significant changes to its content moderation, hateful conduct policies, and fact-checking programs. Since 2009 Meta’s Safety Advisory Council, of which Childnet is a member, has advised on major safety matters – particularly those impacting young people, and marginalised communities who are disproportionately affected by online hate, harassment, and misinformation.
Whilst Meta has more recently built out external advisories covering areas such as AI, VR, youth, and women’s safety, the Safety Advisory Council is the original, global advisory group spanning the full safety remit. However, in this instance, we were not consulted before these changes were made. Safety has to be a priority – any change that has safety implications for users must have safety considered at the outset.
What we are calling for in the open letter
We strongly encourage Meta to reconsider the broader impact of these policy changes, prioritising protections for all communities and upholding its role as a leader in creating safer digital spaces.
In the open letter we urge Meta to do four key things which we, as the Safety Advisory Council, believe will help create a safer space for all. These are:
- Prioritise mental health and wellbeing support for young people and marginalised groups.
- Account for the global impact of policy decisions.
- Commit to a ‘Safety by Design’ approach.
- Champion media literacy education globally.
You can read the full open letter here: META SAC – Letter
