Campaign to stop the sharing of violent incidents.
A national campaign to support young people to safely navigate social media and prevent violence has been launched.
“Quit Fighting For Likes’ aims to get young people to think about and discuss attitudes and behaviours around the filming and sharing of violent incidents.
Developed by the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit (SVRU), YouthLink Scotland and Medics Against Violence (MAV), the new campaign is part of an action plan agreed in the Scottish Government’s Violence Prevention Framework, published in May last year.
It features a short awareness-raising animation, illustrating the digital world where this content can take place and showing an alternative route to switch off from it. A set of memes has also been produced covering a range of messages about why filming and sharing fights is damaging.
Young people helped develop the campaign through focus groups and feedback sessions involving various schools and youth groups.
The campaign has been launched as the first annual progress report for Scotland’s Violence Prevention Framework was published – highlighting progress made to help cut violent crime and reduce the harm it causes. Key developments in 2023-24 include:
- the creation, by the SVRU, of a Violence Anonymous group, the first of its kind in Scotland, to help individuals with significant problems turn their lives around
- the extension of MAV’s hospital-based Navigator programme to reach young people in times of crisis, to receive support to steer them away from violence and harm
- YouthLink Scotland’s training and resources provided to more than 700 practitioners across the country to provide young people with key messages on violence and knife crime prevention
Commenting, SNP MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, Natalie Don-Innes, said:
“While social media can play a positive role in young people’s lives, helping them engage with their friends and family, it can also be a platform where violent imagery is spread.
“The Quit Fighting For Likes campaign aims to enable young people in Renfrewshire and across Scotland to look at attitudes and behaviours regarding social media while pointing towards the toolkit to equip those working with young people to help build positive social norms.
“Scotland’s Violence Prevention Framework is making encouraging progress with a number of partner initiatives focused on prevention and early intervention so that communities across Scotland remain safe and more people live free from the threat of violence.”