Viral violent videos on social media are skewing young people's sense of the world

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.

- BY SAMUEL CORNELL PHD CANDIDATE IN PUBLIC HEALTH & COMMUNITY MEDICINE, SCHOOL OF POPULATION HEALTH, UNSW SYDNEY, AND T.J. THOMSON SENIOR LECTURER IN VISUAL COMMUNICATION & DIGITAL MEDIA, RMIT UNIVERSITY

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.