Children 'bombarded' with weight loss drug ads online, says commissioner

Children are routinely exposed to adverts for weight loss injections and pills online, according to a report by the children's commissioner for England.

It found young people were "routinely bombarded" with ads for products which claimed to change their bodies and appearance, despite this kind of advertising being banned.

Dame Rachel de Souza said the posts were "immensely damaging" to young people's self-esteem and called for a ban on social media advertising to children.

A spokesperson for the media regulator Ofcom said it did not tolerate "tech firms prioritising engagement over children's online safety".

Dame Rachel's report used a survey of 2,000 children aged 13-17 about the potentially harmful products they saw online, alongside two focus groups.

Respondents said they also saw products promoting weight loss such as diet food or drinks, as well as skin-lightening products which can be illegal to sell in the UK.

Other contributors said beauty content online was "unavoidable" - including posts promoting cosmetic procedures such as lip fillers.

Dr Peter Macaulay, a senior lecturer in Psychology at the University of Derby said ending advertising to children on social media was a "necessary step", and he believed regulation should go even further.

"Alongside restrictions, we need stronger platform accountability, better enforcement of age-appropriate design, and education that helps children understand and critically navigate online pressures," he said.

'Urgent action needed'

Several solutions were suggested within Dame Rachel's report, including amending the Online Safety Act (OSA) to include a "clear duty of care" for social media platforms to stop showing adverts to children.

The Online Safety Act aims to make the internet safer for people in the UK, especially children, through a set of laws and duties that online platforms must follow. It is implemented and enforced by Ofcom.

It requires firms to remove harmful material quickly when it is identified.

Dame Rachel also suggested adding changes to Ofcom's Children's Code of Practice to "explicitly protect children from body stigma content".

But according to Ofcom, this is already part of the Code under "non-designated content".

"Body stigma content can be incredibly harmful to children, which is why our codes require sites and apps to protect children from encountering it, and to act swiftly when they become aware of it," a spokesperson for the regulator said.

And Dame Rachel called for stronger regulation and enforcement of online sales of age-restricted products - suggesting the government should consider restricting children's access to some social media platforms.

"Urgent action is needed to create an online world that is truly safer by design," said Dame Rachel.

"We cannot continue to accept an online world that profits from children's insecurities and constantly tells them they need to change or must be better."

A government spokesperson said it was "always clear" the OSA wasn't the end of the conversation.

They added the government had recently launched a national consultation on "bold measures to protect children online", including potentially banning social media for under 16s.