We are calling on you to introduce a 4% ‘misery tax’ on social media companies to ensure they pay for their role in creating the youth mental health crisis. This money must be ringfenced for youth mental health services that are currently failing mentally ill young people across the UK.

One in five children in England were believed to have had a probable mental health disorder in 2023 - equivalent to around 2.6 million children and young people in 2022 - and over a quarter of a million children and young people are on waiting lists for care in England alone. Many languish in that queue for over two years, and the situation is so bad that some suicidal children and young people are not even granted a place on a waiting list.

Research conducted by Mad Youth Organise shows that corporations are creating the poly-crises of climate change, widening inequality and cost of living that are driving mental ill health across the globe. It is clear that corporations are responsible for harming young people’s mental health - be that fossil fuel companies wrecking our future, property developers lobbying for an unaffordable housing market, or social media companies profiting off young people’s anxiety and refusing to keep them safe online.

Too many young people have been harmed by Big Tech’s deliberately addictive and dangerous business model. They’ve been cyberbulled on platforms where no support or protection is provided, had harmful sites pushed on them by dangerous algorithms, and developed eating disorders after being bombarded by unrealistic images.

Big tech companies are creating products that are designed to be highly addictive. Meta is currently being sued by 41 US states for deliberately “harming…children and teens, cultivating addiction to boost corporate profits”. It’s time social media companies were held responsible for the harm they are causing.

That’s why we're calling on you as our Chancellor to introduce a social media ‘misery tax’. This would see all social media companies who have a worldwide revenue of over £500 million being taxed 4% on revenues from UK users.

This Big Tech Tax should be a first step to a wider corporate ‘Misery Tax’ applied to all the corporate sectors creating the youth mental health crisis.

The cost of treating all young people with probable mental health issues with appropriate care in England alone is estimated at £6.3bn per year. With existing NHS budgets this would leave a funding shortfall of around £5.2 billion. By applying a 4% tax to corporate sectors identified as having harmful activities, we could generate funds to cover this dangerous gap in mental health funding across all of Britain.

We look forward to hearing from you shortly on the introduction of a social media ‘misery tax’ to ensure young people are given the mental health support they urgently need.