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Researchers at Oxford’s Department of Psychiatry found that two thirds of young people who encountered self-harm content saw it through algorithmic feed suggestions on social media, making this the most common route of exposure.
The findings come as the UK government has announced a ban on social media for under-16s next year, joining a growing international move to introduce online safety measures for children and young people.
The study, published in the journal Nature Mental Health and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration Oxford and Thames Valley, analysed data from more than 32,000 students aged 11–18 years who took part in the 2025 OxWell Student Survey in England.
Students were asked whether they had encountered self-harm content online during the previous month, how often they had seen it, and how they came across it.
One in three young people (34.5%) reported seeing self-harm content online in the past month. Nearly three-quarters (72%) of those who had seen self-harm content only encountered it passively, without seeking it out, and the most common route was via algorithmically suggested feeds (66.2%). By comparison, only 8% reported actively searching for self-harm content. The rest came across it in a mixture of ways, for example being sent it by others.
Regardless of how they came across the self-harm content, the young people who had seen it had higher rates of loneliness and poorer mental health, but those who directly searched for it were at particularly high psychosocial risk. Lead author Dr Holly Bear, Senior Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Oxford, said:
“As governments around the world consider how best to protect children online, one of the clearest messages from our study is that many adolescents who encounter self-harm content online aren't actively looking for it.
“If we want safer online environments for children and adolescents, we need to pay greater attention to the platforms and algorithmically driven systems that determine what content reaches them in the first place. We all share a responsibility to ensure that young people can enjoy the benefits of digital technology while being protected from avoidable harm."
Of the young people who had seen self-harm content in the previous month, nearly one in five (18.5%) had seen it several times, a quarter (26.5%) had seen it a few times, and more than half (54.9%) had seen it once or twice. Senior author Professor Mina Fazel, Chair of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, said:
“This study suggests that exposure to self-harm content is not a rare occurrence but part of the online environment many adolescents experience, and this study highlights some of the potentially harmful content that platforms need to urgently tackle.
“Policy discussions around social media should focus on the more harmful content that exists, how it is accessed and the essential role platforms play in minimising these risks.
“Also, helping young people understand how algorithms work and how they can influence what is seen online is an important step. Crucially, this is support that young people themselves have told us they want.”
The OxWell Student Survey is a self-report survey of young people in schools and further education colleges in England, conducted every two years, primarily in Oxfordshire and Liverpool. It directly asks students about their mental health, wellbeing and school experience, with the aim of learning about what they need, what factors influence their wellbeing, and how they would like to access support.
The authors of the study explain more in this video: