How a government agency is taking a stand against toxic culture
Mobile phones can become an echo chamber for toxic content, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is vying to highlight the dangers.
DSIT's ‘You Won't Know Until You Ask’ campaign, launched on 10 February 2026 and created by TMW (part of Accenture Song), depicts a seemingly ordinary teen boy's morning routine invaded by toxic online voiceovers.
A parent drifts by as the voiceover reveals the teen’s viewing habits, which expose him to body-shaming, misogyny, and extremism.
To jolt parents into starting conversations with kids aged 8-14, the campaign was piloted in Yorkshire and the Midlands from 16 February across TV, social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok), radio, and city screens.
The campaign ties into a new Kids Online Safety Hub, offering practical tools like safety settings guides and prompts such as "Who shared this, and why?" backed by research showing half of parents never discuss harmful content despite most kids having smartphones by age 11.
Developed with experts including NSPCC, Parent Zone, and Internet Matters, it complements the Online Safety Act by building ‘family resilience’ rather than just regulation, with Technology Secretary Liz Kendall emphasising immediate parental confidence amid half-term screen spikes.
Our take
It’s been quite a week for deftly handling the topic of masculinity, with this, and Beavertown putting in thoughtful work.
The emphasis here (again, like Beavertown's campaign) on 'conversation' is probably a wise strategy, and a toolkit could prove genuinely useful. Let’s face it, it’s a bit of a minefield.
The quandary of the situation is, perhaps unwittingly, depicted in the advert's premise. Teenagers, like the one in the ad, are famously blank-faced at times, and the lad depicted could equally be catching up with the football results, or watching a comedy for all we know.
The remedy to this, the blurb tells me, is to handle the situation ‘without hysteria, focusing on actionable dialogue over broad warnings’. I’m not a parent, but I can't say I envy the task.
All images courtesy of the campaign.
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