A stunning new analysis has revealed that almost one million UK children aged just 3–5 years old are already using adult-targeted social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Snapchat.
That number jumped by 220,000 in the past year alone.
The figures are disturbing, but so is the political response.
Instead of addressing how Big Tech deliberately engineers addictive platforms that pull in toddlers, or how parents are being overwhelmed by devices designed for dependency, governments worldwide are weaponizing the crisis to justify more surveillance, mandatory age verification, and digital ID systems for the entire population.
Former education minister Lord Nash called the findings “deeply alarming.” But what’s even more alarming is how quickly officials pivot from child welfare to calls for heavier regulation that inevitably lands on adults, not the platforms exploiting children.
Toddlers Are Now Part of the “Attention Economy”
The report shows that pre-schoolers are increasingly exposed to feeds engineered for adult engagement, not learning or development.
Unlike children’s TV, social media algorithms serve whatever maximizes time spent on the app, regardless of age.
Meanwhile:
• 9 in 10 British children own a phone before age 11
• 6 in 10 ages 8–12 already have social media accounts despite age limits
This is not organic “early tech adoption.”
It’s addiction-by-design.
Real Health Risks and Real Parental Failure Are Being Ignored
Research continues to confirm what every honest parent already knows:
- Excessive screen time wrecks sleep
- Anxiety and behavioral problems spike
- Attention spans collapse
- School performance plummets
Yet politicians almost never talk about this.
Why? Because acknowledging root causes would mean confronting Big Tech’s predatory design and the choices of parents who hand toddlers unlimited access.
It’s far easier to blame “online dangers” and introduce sweeping regulatory crackdowns.
Enter the Digital ID Trojan Horse
Australia is already forcing under-16s off social platforms and requiring mandatory age verification, which in practice means identity checks that tie online activity to real identities.
However, this policy is a test run for national digital IDs and the elimination of online anonymity.
Now other governments are hinting they may follow Australia’s lead.
Not to protect children, but to build infrastructure that treats every adult like a potential suspect.
The same authorities who openly admit they cannot enforce existing age limits now claim they’ll solve the problem by demanding more power, more surveillance, and more control.
The Power Grab
What’s happening to children deserves attention, but not blind acceptance of any “solution” offered by governments that repeatedly abuse crises to expand digital monitoring.
Yes, toddlers scrolling adult feeds is a problem.
No, that does not justify turning social media into a state-controlled ID checkpoint.
If politicians cared about children:
• They’d force Big Tech to stop designing apps that target developing brains
• They’d educate parents on the risks of early exposure
• They’d hold platforms accountable instead of citizens
But instead, we get the usual pattern:
A genuine crisis followed by solutions that increase government power, not child safety.ht
The rise in preschool social media use is a warning sign about modern childhood, but it’s also a warning sign about opportunistic governments seizing the moment to push through digital ID systems they already wanted.
Children deserve protection.
But adults deserve freedom.
We cannot allow Big Tech’s failures or parental negligence to become the excuse for dismantling online privacy for everyone.
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