Hundreds of thousands of nursery-age children are being exposed to social media content and algorithms designed to “hook adults”, a former education minister has warned.

New analysis from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has revealed that over 800,000 UK children aged between three and five are already engaging with social media platforms.

Lord Nash described the news as “deeply alarming”.

The CSJ’s analysis applied the latest population data to previous research by Ofcom , the internet and communications watchdog.

Ofcom found almost four in 10 parents of three to five-year-olds reported their child using at least one social media app or site.

With roughly 2.2 million children in this age group as of 2024, the CSJ suggests that this indicates 814,000 social media users betw

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