Londoners were asked to pick up a pink phone and listen to young people’s social media horror stories.

Passersby were invited to listen to young people talking about their harmful experiences of using social media outside Meta’s King’s Cross offices as activists called for tech companies to pay a “misery tax” to fund mental health services.

Organisers placed a pink rotary telephone in front of the entrance to the building. Members of the public who picked up when it rang were played recordings of young people’s testimonies.   

Alberto Abrou, a 35 year-old Londoner who picked up the phone, said Meta should be “aware of how social media can impact the community” and that not enough is being done to “protect people who get bullied or communities in general.”

A King’s Cross resident Sally De Sousa, 85, said she was “very moved” by the young people’s  accounts. “I’ve been very escapist in trying not to listen to how this is affecting kids,” she said.

Friday’s protest, which was stopped by security after half an hour, was organised by the health advocacy group Just Treatment, and members of its Mad Youth Organise campaign. It was the third gathering outside Meta’s offices since February 2025. 

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The action comes as a government consultation on proposals to ban social media for under-16s is set to close on Tuesday. Meta, formerly Facebook, owns platforms including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Threads.

Senior Organiser of Mad Youth Hannah Hunt does not support a blanket youth social media ban but does think there needs to be a reckoning on how “the corporations, such as Meta, who are causing harm to young people’s mental health.”

Hunt, now 27, said she was hospitalised for anorexia as a teenager after exposure to graphic online content.

Another activist, the head of Just Treatment, Emma Hughes, said: “Social media shouldn’t be treated like alcohol or like tobacco.” Instead, she said the campaign is calling for a 4 per cent “misery tax” on UK revenues generated by major technology companies to help fund mental health services. 

To date, Australia is the only country to enforce a nationwide social media ban for under-16s, while Indonesia, France, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, and India are increasingly policing social media use for minors.

Meta has been approached for comment.