UK’s Gen Z are increasingly censoring themselves online

This article was commissioned for the Winter 2025 issue of Index on Censorship, Gen Z is revolting: Why the world’s youth will not be silenced, published on 18 December 2025.

Members of Gen Z – those born between 1997 and 2012 – have lived their entire lives within the all-encompassing glare of social media. More than 90% of 16-24-year-olds use such platforms.

Older generations often look on in shock at the level of sharing and over-sharing among young people. But in a world where cancellation has real-world consequences, there is growing evidence that the young are in fact imposing censorship upon themselves, particularly when it comes to unpopular political opinions.

18-year-old William Marsden is keenly aware of this.

“I don’t comment on TikTok, and I don’t comment on Instagram posts because other people I know will see it. Certain things on Instagram are funny, but some people might not think they’re a joke and they might get the wrong idea. You have to be careful with what you like and what you say so sometimes I don’t say anything,” he said.

Marsden is like a growing number of Gen Zers – censoring themselves on social media platforms because of the fear of being cancelled or because, in his words, “they might take the piss out of me”.

“I’m not big into typing comments because you never know what will get back to you and it could potentially affect future employment,” said fellow Gen Zer Harry Waller.

Yet there is a definite divide between in person and online, he said.

“If I’m with my mates, I know it’s comfortable and we’re all as bad as one another.”

Do Gen Zers censor themselves in real life for fear that their thoughts will be captured and shared online?

“Oh, absolutely, yeah,” said Tom Bond, another in the Gen Z demographic. “I possess some political opinions which are a bit outside the normal box and they could sometimes be misconstrued as offensive towards people, which isn’t their necessary intention. But if that were to be recorded and made online, it would perhaps get me in a spot of bother. Also, it’s very easy to take stuff out of context when you haven’t listened to a full conversation,” he said.

19-year-old Evelyn Scott says the fear of making rash comments and responses and having them available for future scrutiny is part of this.

“Since COVID, you can probably say more in person than you can online. It used to be very much like you could say whatever you wanted online and no one was going to track it to you. If you say one thing now, that can cause uproar. You can literally get found out.”

“I live by the rule that if you wouldn’t say it to someone’s face, you don’t say it online,” she said. “The people that are getting screen-shotted and clipped online for saying bad things, it’s because they’re not thinking about actually saying it in person and the consequences that has.”

She recalled a particular incident where this happened.

“Someone I was with in Scouts had something screenshotted of them and sent to loads of parents; it was sort of hate speech. We were all under 16. Police got involved. It’s treated the same as if someone literally did it in front of you.”

William Marsden says that Gen Z is becoming more careful about their public comments as a result of living in a world where everything can be recorded for posterity.

“At school, if you’re mucking about people can just take their phone out and record you. Suddenly everyone in the school’s seen a video of you doing something stupid with your mates. You’ll be immortalised if it ends up in the wrong place,” he said.

“There are some mistakes kids can’t afford to make, and social media is quite dangerous in that way. They can forever be living with that mistake,” he said.

Because of this permanence, more needs to be done to educate young people on social media. Children are being exposed to it from a very young age and even when they mature, a lack of education on how to use it, what not to say and how to behave online can still leave them open to making these potentially long-lasting mistakes.

Evelyn Scott said: “There is definitely a negative side the younger you are using it because you’re not as responsible. But I think it’s important to be educated about it and use it in the right ways because it can be a very positive thing for young people.”

Harry Waller shares his own experience at a much younger age of the difference between comments online and offline, particularly relevant in a world where governments are considering bans on social media for young people.

“I overstepped that barrier [of what I would say online]. Ever since then, I just didn’t do it because it wasn’t like me. I got too comfortable and I’d never do it again.”

Speaking to Index, Positive Social, an organisation dedicated to empowering young people on social media, said: “Pupils often talk about how difficult it is to switch off, how social comparison affects how they see themselves, and how online drama can spill into the classroom. While social media can be wonderful, it needs balance, boundaries and education.”

They added, “Social media itself isn’t inherently good or bad – it’s how we engage with it that matters. When young people are supported to use social media positively – for creativity, learning, connection and campaigning – it can be incredibly empowering. Our view is that we should focus on digital wellbeing. That means helping young people use social media in a way that benefits their lives”

“Age verification and greater platform accountability are essential parts of the solution but they’re not enough on their own. The reality is that millions of under-13s already use social media, often with or without parental awareness. We believe that alongside stronger regulation, education and trust-based monitoring are crucial. But the aim shouldn’t be surveillance, it should be support.”

Evelyn Scott sees the benefits of the freedom of social media but recognises the downsides too.

“Obviously there are cons that come with freedom to post, which is people having very, say, extremist opinions and just trying to show young people and not censoring it, corrupting younger people that don’t know any better about what to listen to.”

Harry Waller told Index:  “Everyone complains that we have no freedom of speech, but I would say we do. After the Southport stabbing, people were saying on social media ‘we need to burn down where illegal immigrants are living’. That’s not right. We shouldn’t be using social media as a tool to spread hate.”

Tom Bond said social media is making it easier for people to become radicalised. “You find yourself within an echo chamber of people expressing the same precise views as you. It’s very easy to find yourself in a little bubble and content feeds with stuff personalised to you and you can form quite radical beliefs which you think to be normal.”

But Bond recognises the power of social media for good.

“The ability to express one’s beliefs on social media to a large audience is one of perhaps the main benefits,” he said. “Greta Thunberg, for example, she became a phenomenon within social media, and her views were sort of disseminated to a global audience and change occurred because of that”.