This week, we are turning our attention towards the ubiquity of social media across most societies worldwide and its spill over effect that impacts our very realities, from the way we interact with each other to how we position ourselves against mass media. The growing popularity of social media platforms marks the beginning of an era for security practitioners where the risk is virtual in nature, but analog in its impact.
Last week, riots broke out in Belfast, Northern Ireland, spurring from a knife attack that took place on June 8th and which concluded with the police charging Hadi Alodid, a Sudanese national, with attempted murder. Elon Musk, recently crowned as the world’s first trillionaire, was reported to having amplified the anti-immigration sentiment online after revealing his support for Tommy Robinson, a British far-right activist and posting on X that only by “protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change.” Given that Musk is the most followed user on the platform his influence over reigniting this anti-immigrant sentiment is difficult to describe as coincidental.
With millions of social media users being under 18, some governments have already thought of imposing a ban for teenagers, with age limits varying from 14 (in Austria) to 16 (in Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia and multiple European countries). Australia became the first country to impose this ban to everyone under 16, in December 2025. Six months on, parents report the effects of the ban as being “mixed.”
Join the conversation on Global Risk Forum 446 & 447 to share your perspective on one of the big questions policy-makers have to find an answer to: how do you confine social media into a manageable box? We are looking forward to seeing you there.
- Global Risk Forum 446
- Thursday, 18th June at 17:00 BST / 12:00 EDT
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- Global Risk Forum 447
- Friday, 19th June at 10:00 BST
- REGISTRATION >>
