WARNING: This episode features content dealing with self-harm, suicide, and related mental health topics. 

Scroll through TikTok and you’re likely to find a series of harmless, sometimes hilarious, video clips of young people doing weird things.  

But dig a little deeper, and you’re likely to find a dark underbelly of posts, sharing the experiences of people suffering from mental illness.

So what is TikTok doing about it? Do parents actually know what their kids are looking at? And what should our regulators do to keep New Zealand’s teenagers safe from harm?  
 
Today, 20-year-old university student Megan Dykes shares a first-hand experience of a young person’s struggle with mental health in the age of social media, and NZ Herald investigations editor Alex Spence helps Damien understand why social media, and TikTok in particular, is raising concern around the world.  

Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.

Host: Damien Venuto
Producers: Shaun D Wilson and Paddy Fox
Executive Producer: Ethan Sills

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.