Social media giant urges companies to engage in conversation on youth body image crisis

Australia’s Pinterest boss has admitted social media needs to do more to drive positive change in young people, labelling their poor wellbeing a health emergency. What she had to say.

Pinterest country manager for Australia and New Zealand, Melinda Petrunoff, women’s advocate Sunita Gloster and former Australian of the Year Tanya Brumfitt spoke at the opening keynote panel Body Image: The Scourge of The Next Generation. Whose Responsibility Is It? at Cannes in Cairns on Tuesday. Photo: Catherine Duffy.

Australia’s Pinterest boss has admitted social media needs to do more to drive positive change in young people, labelling their poor wellbeing a health emergency.

Pinterest country manager for Australia and New Zealand, Melinda Petrunoff, said social media companies must take responsibility when addressing the Cannes in Cairns national media conference on Tuesday.

“We see it as a crucial point as an industry and equally as a critical point as a society. We really believe (the state of youth wellbeing) is a health emergency,” Ms Petrunoff said.

“The data tells us that 80 per cent of young people on social media are saying it makes them feel anxious and 65 per cent of young people have been exposed to content, encouraging weight loss and body transformation.”

Ms Petrunoff said it was important social media companies engage in conversations about the impact it can have on young people.

But she maintained it was a “collective responsibility” between social media, marketing and tech companies to drive positive change.

“I would say (social media) is obviously a collective responsibility,” she said.

It comes after News Corp Australia’s Let Them Be Kids campaign called on the federal government to take action and protect our children from harmful online content by raising the age limit for social media from 13 to 16.

The campaign, launched in May, calls for greater protections for children accessing social media, including age restrictions, cybersafety training and parenting tips.

Moderator Sunita Gloster said she was challenged by her daughter to spend more time with her, if she wasn’t allowed to use social media.

“My daughter asked, ‘Will you put your phone down first? Are you ready as parents to spend more time with us?’” she said.

Panellist and founder of Embrace Collective Taryn Brumfitt said it was important to recognise demonising the relationship children have with social media would not stop them from struggling with body image.

“I have four teenagers, telling them not to have something that makes them want to happen even more,” she said.

“We need to remind our young people that we get to choose who we allow into our lives, and we’re in the ones in the drivers seat.”

The keynote address opened the four-day Cannes in Cairns conference, a major networking event which attracted more than 1500 people to the region.
The event includes pop-up market stalls, keynote speeches, networking workshops and a welcome party hosted by major sponsor Pinterest.

Cannes in Cairns has been held since 2022 and attracts about 1200 media, PR and advertising people.

Originally published as Social media giant urges companies to engage in conversation on youth body image crisis