Urgent Charity Appeal… From Social Media Billionaires

Smartphone Free Childhood and UK creatives team up to share heartfelt appeal on behalf of tech billionaires.

In the debates about smartphones and children, one group has been overlooked for too long: the poor tech billionaires, whose livelihoods and MMA careers benefit from continued access to the youngest in society.

So Smartphone Free Childhood, and a group of the UK's finest creatives, all working pro-bono, have come together to tell their story.

In a film released to coincide with the UK Government's review of tech and young people, platform owner Zach Zingerberg has fronted an appeal to parents and government, asking them to let him continue profiting from reaching children.

The film, available on all of Smartphone Free Childhood's social channels, was made in a partnership between Smartphone Free Childhood and creatives Sam Ojari and Dulcie Cowling, with production by NUSA Studios

Joe Ryrie, co-founder at Smartphone Free Childhood, said, "We had a lot of fun creating Zack Zingerberg, but.underneath the humour sits a very serious point.

"Some of the richest and most powerful companies in human history are making billions from capturing as much of our children's attention as possible, whatever the consequences. So of course they don't want meaningful age restrictions on social media platforms.

"We wanted to use satire to shine a light on the absurdity of that business model in a way that people would actually watch, remember and share. Because while Zack is very much a joke, the reality facing children and families is not.

"Over 100,000 people have already signed Smartphone Free Childhood's petition calling on the government to raise the age of social media to 16. This is no longer a fringe concern – parents, teachers and young people themselves are increasingly clear that the status quo is failing children, and that the government needs to stand up for them, not Zack and a few other billionaire tech bros."

Dulcie Cowling, creative consultant and former founder of comedy specialists Studio Yes, added:

"The idea is a really simple one. Social media bosses have been building their billions on a business model that relies on access to our children's brains. They are desperate for things not to change. "We thought it would be funny to flip the idea of an appeal. Instead of campaigning for things to change (as many parents are), we could create a campaign for those who don't want change, and who benefit from the current system: social media billionaires."

"It's quite dark when you stop and think about what's going on at the minute, but we knew for a piece of content to connect with audiences, humour is the best tool we have. It's a handy little trojan horse to deliver quite hard hitting truths that people otherwise might not want to confront.

"Sam and I love what SFC are doing. We really like that they're not anti-tech but they're pro-childhood. When you spend any amount of time reading some of the studies and facts around the effects of social media on children (apart from the ones paid for by the social media companies!) it's clear that something needs to change. "I really hope that we're at a turning point in this whole conversation and people are seeing that the power needs to lie with us, the vast majority, not the small incredibly wealthy few."