Teenagers protest outside Facebook HQ calling on this Government to keep them safe

A group of teenagers protested outside Facebook Headquarters in Grand Canal today before marching to the Dáil to present an Open Letter calling on Ministers Catherine Martin and Robert Troy to lead on stronger rules to rein in Facebook and other social media corporations.

The event was organised by Uplift following recent revelations that the tech giant deliberately hid research and profited from the mental and physical harm inflicted on teenage girls, caused by Instagram algorithms.

Uplift campaigner, Layla Wade the organiser of today’s event said: “Facebook bosses know the damage they are causing.

“They are not going to change willingly – from June to Sept alone they made a $9 billion profit.

“This government is in a powerful position to rein in Facebook because their European HQ is based in Ireland, but are failing to rein them in.”

Megan Brown, one of the teenagers organising the event today said “We won’t stand by while this government sits on their hands and fails to protect us.

“That’s why today we are going to Facebook and to the Dáil to tell them how we feel and that we want then to stop letting Facebook off the hook,”

Dorothy-Ann Vandervulgt, another of the teenagers involved in the action said “Teenagers like us are fed unrealistic images of how we should look.

“We then feel pressure to look a particular way and it makes us feel bad about ourselves.

“Facebook should be protecting us, not pushing this stuff at us.”

Ms. Wade concluded by welcoming the invitation to meet Ministers Martin and Troy to meet with Uplift and the young activists to discuss the open letter delivered today in the near future.