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Teenagers are routinely seeing inappropriate violent or sexual content, “doom-scrolling” and being contacted by strangers online, according to an exclusive survey for Sky News.

More than 1,000 young people aged 14 to 17 in Darlington schools told us what they see and experience online when looking at apps commonly used by teenagers.

Their answers raise troubling questions about whether government and tech companies are doing enough to protect children online amid a growing debate among parents and campaigners about how far to restrict children’s access to smartphones and social media.

Of those surveyed, 40% spent at least six hours a day online – the equivalent of a school day. One in five said they spent upwards of eight hours a day on their phones.

Some of the findings in the under-16 group were striking, including that 75% had been contacted by strangers through social media and online gaming.

Over half (55%) of the Year 10 students, aged 14 to 15, had seen sexually explicit or violent content that was inappropriate for their age.

Concerningly, a large proportion of them (50%) said this always or usually came up on social media apps without them searching for it – suggesting it is driven by algorithms.

Doom-scrolling is the act of spending an excessive amount of time online consuming negative news or social media content, often without stopping.

The survey represents a snapshot of teenagers in one town in the UK, but resonates more widely.

The teenagers said they wanted their voices to be heard in the debate about online safety. While they did not favour a social media or smartphone ban, many wanted tougher controls on the content they see.

When asked if they were in favour of social media companies doing more to protect under 16s from seeing explicit or harmful content, 50% were in favour and 14% against.

Jacob Lea said harmful content just pops up when he uses some social media sites
Image:
Jacob Lea, 15, said harmful content just pops up when he uses some social media sites

‘It’s quite horrific’

Sky News was invited to film a focus group of under-16s from different schools discussing the results at St Aidan’s Academy in Darlington, hosted by Labour MP Lola McEvoy, whose office carried out the research.

Jacob Lea, who is 15, said among the things he had seen on social media were “gore, animal abuse, car crashes, everything related to death, torture”.

He said: “It’s quite horrific. A lot of the things that I’ve seen that I shouldn’t have, have not been searched by me directly and have been shown to me without me wanting to.

“Most of this stuff pops up on social media, Instagram Reels, TikTok, sometimes on YouTube.

“It’s like a roulette, you can go online and see entertainment, because there’s always a risk of seeing racism, sexism and 18+ explicit content.”

Matthew Adams
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Matthew Adams, 15, said he spends up to nine hours online at weekends

Matthew Adams, also 15, said he spends six to seven hours a day online, before school and late into the evening – and up to nine hours on weekends, gaming and messaging with friends.

“After school, the only time I take a break is when I’m eating or talking to someone. It can turn into addiction,” he said.

He also said inappropriate content was unprompted. “I’ve seen a varied spectrum of things – sexually explicit content, graphic videos, gory photos and just upsetting images,” he added.

“Mostly with the violence it’s on Instagram Reels, with sexually explicit content it’s more Snapchat and TikTok.”

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Summer Batley
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Summer Batley, 14, said harmful content keeps appearing on her feed despite her reporting it

‘It can be sexual stuff’

Summer Batley, 14, said: “I see unwanted content about getting into a summer body and how you should starve yourself.

“It just pops up randomly without searching anything. I reported it, but it keeps coming up.”

Many of the group had been contacted by strangers. Summer said: “I have, and a lot of my friends have as well. They can just randomly come up on Snapchat and TikTok and you don’t know who they are, and it’s quite worrying, they’re probably like 40 years old.”

Olivia Bedford, 15, said: “I’ve been added to group chat with hundreds of people sending images like dead bodies, gore.

“I try to leave but there’s so many people, I don’t know who has added me, and I keep getting re-added. It can be sexual stuff or violent stuff. It can be quite triggering for people to see stuff like that quite damaging to your mental health.”

Asked what she disliked online, Briony Heljula, 14, said: “Involvement with older people, people who aren’t my friends and that I don’t know. It’s very humiliating when other people are commenting and being rude; and it’s quite horrible.”

Fewer than a third of those surveyed (31%) said they were always asked their age before viewing inappropriate content.

When asked about their age on social media, around a third said they usually pretended to be older. But in the focus group, teenagers were clear that they had seen upsetting and disturbing content when they used their real age.

Olivia Bedford said she has been part of a group chat where individuals have sent pictures of dead bodies
Image:
Olivia Bedford, 15, said she has been part of a group chat where individuals have sent pictures of dead bodies

Parents ‘can’t tackle this alone’

Ms McEvoy described the findings as “shocking” and said “the safety of our children online is one of the defining issues of our time”.

“Parents and teachers are doing their best, but they can’t tackle this alone,” she added.

“We need enforceable age verification, better content controls, and stronger legislation to ensure children can go online without fear.”

The Online Safety Act, which was passed by MPs in October 2023, is intended to protect users – particularly children – from illegal and harmful content.

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Is the UK banning children from social media?

It is being implemented this year, with tough fines for platforms which do not prevent children from accessing harmful and age-inappropriate content coming in this summer.

A private members’ bill debated by MPs earlier this month proposed that the internet “age of consent” for giving data to social media companies be raised from 13 to 16, but it was watered down after the government made clear it would not support the move.

Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok were contacted for comment, but did not provide an on-the-record statement on the comments by the teenagers.

The companies insist they take issues of safety and age-appropriate content seriously.

Instagram is rolling out Teen Accounts, which it says will limit who can contact teenagers and the content they can see.

Snapchat and TikTok say on their websites that accounts for under-16s are set to private.

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School kids asking for advice on strangulation during sex – as abuse victim issues warning

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School kids asking for advice on strangulation during sex - as abuse victim issues warning

Schoolchildren are asking teachers how to strangle a partner during sex safely, a charity says, while official figures show an alarming rise in the crime related to domestic abuse cases.

Warning: This article contains references to strangulation, domestic abuse and distressing images.

It comes as a woman whose former partner almost strangled her to death in a rage has advised anyone in an abusive relationship to seek help and leave.

Bernie Ryan, chief executive of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation, has been running the charity since its inception in 2022 after non-fatal strangulation became a standalone offence.

“It’s the ultimate form of control,” she says.

She says perpetrators and victims are getting younger, while the reason is unclear, but strangulation has seeped into popular culture and social media.

“We hear lots of sex education providers, teachers saying that they’re hearing it in schools.

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“We know teachers have been asked, ‘how do I teach somebody to strangle safely?’

“Our message is there is no safe way to strangle – the anatomy is the anatomy. Reduction in oxygen to the brain or blood flow will result in the same medical consequences, regardless of context.”

Bernie Ryan, the Chief Executive of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation
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Bernie Ryan, CEO of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation

A recent review by Conservative peer Baroness Gabby Bertin recommended banning “degrading, violent and misogynistic content” online.

Violent pornography showing women being choked during sex she found was “rife on mainstream platforms”.

Ms Ryan says she “wants to make sure that young people don’t have access to activities that demonstrate that this is normal behaviour”.

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Man whose body was found in suitcase ‘had raped teenager’

Strangulation is a violent act that is often committed in abusive relationships.

It is the second most common method used by men to kill women, the first is stabbing.

According to statistics shared by the Crown Prosecution Service, in 2024 there was an almost 50% rise in incidents of non-fatal strangulation and suffocation – compared to the year before.

Kerry pleads for other victims of abuse to leave before it's too late
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Kerry Allan pleads for other victims of abuse to leave before it’s too late

Domestic abuse victim Kerry Allan has a message for anyone who is in an abusive relationship.

Kerry met Michael Cosgrove in September 2022. While she said “at the beginning it was really good”, within months he became physically abusive.

In August last year her friends found his profile on a dating app.

“I confronted him and he denied it. I knew we were going to get into a big argument and I couldn’t face it, so I said I was going to my mum’s for a few days and take myself away from the situation.

“I came back a few days later and stupidly I agreed we could try again and everything escalated from that.”

Injuries to Kerry's chest. Pic: CPS
Image:
Injuries to Kerry’s chest. Pic: CPS

In the early hours of 25 August the pair had come in from a night out at a concert and got into an argument.

“He was having a go at me, accusing me of flirting with other people, and I was angry. I told him he had a nerve after what he’d done to me in the week and how he humiliated me.

“I told him that I wanted to leave, that we were done and that I wanted to go to my mum’s and that’s when it got bad.

“He pinned me to the bed and that’s when he first strangled me.”

Kerry's neck injury. Pic: CPS
Image:
Kerry’s neck injury. Pic: CPS

Kerry says this was the first time she’d ever been violently assaulted. Cosgrove was eerily silent as he eventually let go and Kerry gasped for air.

“I remember trying to get my breath back, I was crying and hyperventilating… I was sick on the bedroom floor and I was asking him to go.”

Cosgrove strangled her for a second time before letting go again.

“He was saying I wasn’t getting out of this bedroom alive. I was dead tonight, he hoped that I knew that. Just kept saying how I’d ruined his life.”

Injury to Kerry's eye. Pic: CPS
Image:
Injury to Kerry’s eye. Pic: CPS

“I remember feeling a sort of shock thinking at this point, I’m not going to get out of this bedroom, he’s actually going to kill me.”

Kerry began screaming and shouting for help as loud as she could.

Her neighbours heard the commotion and called the police. While they were en route, Kerry was once again being assaulted.

Bleeding in Kerry's eye
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Bleeding in Kerry’s eye

“I ran over to the bedroom window and tried to jump out, he grabbed me as I went to open the window, and we struggled. And then I was back in the same position, he was on top of me on the bed, and his hands were round the throat again. But this time it didn’t stop.

“I remember trying to struggle and trying to kick out and hit him and I just kept thinking that I definitely was going to die, because at this point, it wasn’t stopping.”

The next memory Kerry has is opening her eyes to see police and paramedics in the bedroom.

Michael Cosgrove. Pic: CPS
Image:
Michael Cosgrove. Pic: CPS

Cosgrove had heard the sirens, jumped out of the bedroom window and went to hide in Kerry’s car.

Kerry remembers opening her eyes to paramedics caring for her: “I remember thinking, I’m alive. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that I was alive and I wasn’t dead. My last memory is him being on top of me with his hands on my throat.”

Kerry met Michael Cosgrove in September 2022
Image:
Kerry met Michael Cosgrove in September 2022

She gives this advice to anyone who is in an abusive relationship: “Please speak to somebody, whether it’s friends, family, a work colleague, whether it’s somebody online, whether it’s a charity that you’re directed to, any sort of abuse is not okay.

“Whether it starts off emotional, they often start off that way, and they escalate, and they can escalate badly.

“Take what happened to me as a huge warning sign, because I wouldn’t want anyone else to be in the position I’ve been in the last eight months.”

Cosgrove was found guilty of attempting to murder Kerry and intentional strangulation.

He will be sentenced in July.

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King Charles echoes his grandfather’s historic VE Day speech as he marks 80th anniversary

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King Charles echoes his grandfather's historic VE Day speech as he marks 80th anniversary

The King echoed the words of his grandfather as he delivered a speech at the precise moment King George VI addressed the nation to mark VE Day 80 years ago.

At 9pm, Charles spoke at Horse Guards Parade in central London and called on the country to “rededicate ourselves” to “the cause of freedom” and “the prevention of conflict”.

His grandfather spoke to the nation from Buckingham Palace at 9pm on 8 May 1945, to thank the country for their contribution as war came to an end in Europe.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla wave Union flags during the concert celebrating the 80th Anniversary of VE Day, held at the historic Horse Guards Parade in central London. Picture date: Thursday May 8, 2025.  Jonathan Brady/PA Wire
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King Charles III and Queen Camilla wave Union flags during the concert celebrating the 80th Anniversary of VE Day, held at the historic Horse Guards Parade in central London. Picture date: Thursday May 8, 2025.

Recalling the VE Day speeches, Charles said: “We should remind ourselves of the words of our great wartime leader, Sir Winston Churchill, who said ‘meeting jaw to jaw is better than war’.

“In so doing, we should also rededicate ourselves not only to the cause of freedom but to renewing global commitments to restoring a just peace where there is war, to diplomacy, and to the prevention of conflict.

“For as my grandfather put it, ‘We shall have failed, and the blood of our dearest will have flowed in vain, if the victory which they died to win does not lead to a lasting peace, founded on justice and established in good will’.

Stressing the responsibility we still hold today, he added: “Just as those exceptional men and women fulfilled their duty to each other, to humankind, and to God, bound by an unshakeable commitment to nation and service, in turn it falls to us to protect and continue their precious legacy – so that one day hence generations yet unborn may say of us: ‘they too bequeathed a better world’.”

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King Charles III and Queen Camilla alongside the Waleses at the concert celebrating the 80th Anniversary of VE Day, held at the historic Horse Guards Parade in central London. Pic: PA
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King Charles III and Queen Camilla alongside the Waleses at the concert celebrating the 80th Anniversary of VE Day, held at the historic Horse Guards Parade in central London. Picture date: Thursday May 8, 2025. Pic: PA

The King’s words were designed to be a reminder of current conflicts.

In recent months, the monarch has been placed at the forefront of diplomatic matters, making his call for “unity” even more pertinent.

“The Allied victory being celebrated then, as now, was a result of unity between nations, races, religions and ideologies, fighting back against an existential threat to humanity,” the King said. “Their collective endeavour remains a powerful reminder of what can be achieved when countries stand together in the face of tyranny.”

After a week which has seen the Royal Family make it a priority to ensure VE Day commemorations have been special for the surviving veterans, the King thanked not just those who served in uniform but acknowledged the contribution of those left back home.

“We unite to celebrate and remember with an unwavering and heartfelt gratitude, the service and sacrifice of the wartime generation who made that hard-fought victory possible,” he said. “While our greatest debt is owed to all those who paid the ultimate price, we should never forget how the war changed the lives of virtually everyone.”

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King arrives at VE Day service

Like families up and down the country remembering VE Day, it was clear Charles’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was at the forefront of his mind.

Remembering his mother’s story of what happened when she was allowed to leave the palace, he said: “The celebration that evening was marked by my own late mother who, just 19 years old, described in her diary how she mingled anonymously in the crowds across central London and ‘walked for miles’ among them.

“The rejoicing continued into the next day, when she wrote ‘Out in the crowd again. Embankment, Piccadilly. Rained, so fewer people. Conga-ed into House. Sang till 2am. Bed at 3am!’.

Read more:
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What VE Day was really like

Charles continued: “I do hope your celebrations tonight are almost as joyful, although I rather doubt I shall have the energy to sing until 2am, let alone lead you all in a giant conga from here back to Buckingham Palace.”

Earlier in the week, at a tea party held at Buckingham Palace, the King said to one veteran: “Do you do the conga? I remember doing congas with my grandmother round and round the house.”

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Red Wall MPs should focus on two-child benefit cap rather than winter fuel, Harriet Harman says

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Red Wall MPs should focus on two-child benefit cap rather than winter fuel, Harriet Harman says

Red Wall MPs should push for the two-child benefit cap to be lifted rather than a reversal of the winter fuel payment policy, Baroness Harriet Harman has said.

Baroness Harman, the former Labour Party chair, told Sky’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast that this would hand the group a “progressive win” rather than simply “protesting and annoying Sir Keir Starmer” over winter fuel.

Earlier this week, a number of MPs in the Red Wall – Labour’s traditional heartlands in the north of England – reposted a statement on social media in which they said the leadership’s response to the local elections had “fallen on deaf ears”.

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They singled out the cut to the winter fuel allowance as an issue that was raised on the doorstep and urged the government to rethink the policy, arguing doing so “isn’t weak, it takes us to a position of strength”.

Labour’s decision to means test the policy has snatched the benefit away from millions of pensioners.

But Baroness Harman said a better target for the group could be an overhaul of George Osborne’s two-child benefit cap.

More on Harriet Harman

The cap, announced in 2015 as part of Lord David Cameron’s austerity measures, means while parents can claim child tax credit or Universal Credit payments for their first and second child, they can’t make claims for any further children they have.

Labour faced pressure to remove the cap in the early months of government, with ministers suggesting in February that they were considering relaxing the limit.

Baroness Harman told Beth Rigby that this could be a sensible pressure point for Red Wall MPs to target.

She said: “It could be that they have a kind of progressive win, and it might not be a bad thing to do in the context of an overall strategy on child poverty.

“Let’s see whether instead of just protesting and annoying Sir Keir Starmer, they can build a bridge to a new progressive set of policies.”

Jo White, the Labour MP for Bassetlaw and a member of the Red Wall group, suggested that her party’s “connection” to a core group of voters “died” with the decision to means test the winter fuel payment for pensioners.

“We need to reset the government,” she told Electoral Dysfunction. “The biggest way to do that is by tackling issues such as winter fuel payments.

“I think we should raise the thresholds so that people perhaps who are paying a higher level of tax are the only people who are exempt from getting it.”

Pic: AP
Image:
Pic: AP

A group of MPs in the Red Wall, thought to number about 40, met on Tuesday night following the fallout of local election results in England, which saw Labour lose the Runcorn by-election and control of Doncaster Council to Reform UK.

Following the results, Sir Keir said “we must deliver that change even more quickly – we must go even further”.

Some Labour MPs believe it amounted to ignoring voters’ concerns.

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One of the MPs who was present at the meeting told Sky News there was “lots of anger at the government’s response to the results”.

“People acknowledged the winter fuel allowance was the main issue for us on the doorstep,” they said.

“There is a lack of vision from this government.”

Another added: “Everyone was furious.”

Downing Street has ruled out a U-turn on means testing the winter fuel payment, following newspaper reports earlier this week that one might be on the cards.

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