London: City-wide approach to tackling impact of algorithm-fuelled online harms and violence

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today announced that his Violence Reduction Unit is investing £5 million as part of a city-wide approach to tackling online harms affecting young people after new research found that social media algorithms promote violent content and rapidly escalate conflict.

New groundbreaking research commissioned by the Mayor’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) found that social media ‘changed the scale’ of existing disputes between young people, making them public, mass events, generating pressure to respond and making it harder for them to escape from. 

In-depth analysis of London data found that was an association between an increase in misogynistic posts online and a rise in police-recorded violence against women and girls that same day. This does not infer causality, but demands further research.

In response, the Mayor has today announced that his VRU is drawing on its seven-year track record of pioneering a public health approach to tackle online and digital harms affecting young people.

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