Social Media Debate Topics

Press Next question for a social media motion with both sides, then count the hands.

Social Media Debate Topics

Should autoplay be off unless you switch it on?

Read it out, then tap a side once for every raised hand.

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How it works

These social media debate topics cover one subject in depth: 71 motions on age limits, school, privacy, news, influencers and attention. Each card gives an opening line for both sides, and no app or company is named.

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Six topics, three levels

The topics are Age limits and children; Phones and school; Privacy and data; News and what is true; Influencers and paid posts; Time and attention. Easy cards need no reading. Hard cards, such as Should a feed be ordered by time instead of by an algorithm?, reward a lesson of preparation.

Debate topics about social media, asked as questions

Every card is a question, so the deck also serves as social media questions to ask students before a media unit: read one out, count hands, and ask two students why.

  • The two lines on a card are arguments to start from, not findings. No card states a user count or what screens do to anyone.
  • Ask speakers to say a video app or a photo app, not a brand. The argument lasts longer than the app.

Questions and answers

What are good social media debate topics for students?

Ones students already live with: Should follower counts be hidden? Should parents post photos of their children without asking them? Should autoplay be off unless you switch it on? Pick Easy for a first debate.

Why is no platform named?

A motion about one app dates quickly. Each card says an app, a feed or a platform, so the argument is about a design or a rule and not about a company.

Which topics are left out?

Elections, parties, a named person's account and health claims. Time and attention is about habits and rules, such as streaks and notifications, and no card says what screens do to anyone.

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All 71 topics

Age limits and children 12

  • Is 13 too young for a public profile? A) Yes. A private profile is plenty to start with. B) No. Young artists, athletes and coders want their work to be seen.
  • Should a first account be shared with a parent for the first year? A) Yes. Learner drivers get a passenger, and so should new users. B) No. A shared account teaches a teen to hide things elsewhere.
  • Should a parent have to approve every account for a child under 16? A) Yes. Parents sign off on school trips, and this is bigger. B) No. Teens with unsupportive parents would be cut off from friends.
  • Should a person be able to have childhood posts about them deleted at 18? A) Yes. Nobody chose what was posted about them at six. B) No. Those posts are also the family's memories.
  • Should a teen be able to keep an account private from their parents? A) Yes. Growing up needs some space of your own. B) No. Parents answer for what happens there.
  • Should age limits for social media be set by law? A) Yes. One clear line is fairer than a thousand arguments at home. B) No. Parents know their own child better than a rule does.
  • Should apps made for children under 13 allow comments? A) Yes. Talking about what you made is half the fun. B) No. Comments are where the trouble starts.
  • Should children who appear in a family's paid videos get a share of the money? A) Yes. They are doing part of the work. B) No. Family income pays for the child's home already.
  • Should opening a social media account require proof of age? A) Yes. An age rule that nobody checks is not a rule. B) No. Handing over ID to an app is a new risk of its own.
  • Should parents post photos of their children without asking them? A) Yes. Parents have always shown off family photos. B) No. The child is the one who lives with those pictures later.
  • Should platforms be held responsible when underage users sign up anyway? A) Yes. They built the door, so they should check who walks in. B) No. Someone determined to misstate their age will manage it.
  • Should private messaging be switched off for the youngest users? A) Yes. Public posts can be seen by adults who care, and messages cannot. B) No. Messaging friends is the main reason to join.

Phones and school 11

  • Should a class have a shared account to show its work to parents? A) Yes. Parents see what the class is proud of. B) No. Not every family wants their child online.
  • Should a media class teach how to build a following? A) Yes. It is a skill that some careers are built on. B) No. School should teach how to judge media, not how to chase numbers.
  • Should a school step in when unkind posts are made outside school hours? A) Yes. The hurt walks into class the next morning. B) No. What happens at home is for families to handle.
  • Should a school's official account be run by students? A) Yes. Students know what other students will read. B) No. One careless post speaks for the whole school.
  • Should a teacher's personal posts be their own business? A) Yes. A job does not buy your weekends. B) No. A teacher is a public example whether they like it or not.
  • Should class announcements ever be made only on social media? A) Yes. That is where students will see them. B) No. Nobody should need an account to get their homework.
  • Should phones stay in bags at school dances and games? A) Yes. People enjoy an event more than a recording of it. B) No. Photos with friends are part of the night.
  • Should schools keep an eye on students' public posts? A) Yes. A warning sign that was public and missed is hard to forgive. B) No. A school that watches teaches students to hide.
  • Should schools post photos of students on public pages? A) Yes. Families like to see teams and concerts celebrated. B) No. A public page can be seen by anyone at all.
  • Should students need permission before filming classmates at school? A) Yes. Nobody should end up in a video they did not agree to. B) No. A quick clip of friends should not need paperwork.
  • Should teachers and students follow each other on social media? A) Yes. It makes teachers easier to reach. B) No. School and private life need a line between them.

Privacy and data 12

  • Should accounts be tied to real names? A) Yes. People behave better when their name is attached. B) No. Some people can only speak freely without it.
  • Should an app delete your data after a year without use? A) Yes. Data nobody uses is only a risk. B) No. People come back and want their photos to be there.
  • Should apps be allowed to track which posts you linger on? A) Yes. It is how the feed learns what you like. B) No. Pausing is not the same as agreeing to be measured.
  • Should colleges and employers look at an applicant's old posts? A) Yes. Public posts are public. B) No. People should be allowed to grow out of who they were at 15.
  • Should face recognition be allowed to tag people in photos automatically? A) Yes. It saves time and finds photos of you that you never saw. B) No. Your face should not be searchable without your say.
  • Should friend lists be private unless you choose otherwise? A) Yes. Who you know is your own business. B) No. Seeing shared friends is how people find each other.
  • Should location tagging be off unless you switch it on? A) Yes. Nobody should share where they are by accident. B) No. Most people want friends to see where the photo was taken.
  • Should people have a right to erase everything they have ever posted? A) Yes. Your words should stay yours to withdraw. B) No. Others replied, quoted and relied on them.
  • Should posting a screenshot of a private chat be against the rules? A) Yes. It was said in private. B) No. Sometimes a screenshot is the only proof.
  • Should private messages be unreadable even to the company that runs the app? A) Yes. Private should mean private. B) No. Then nobody can act when messages are used to harm someone.
  • Should terms of service fit on one page? A) Yes. A rule nobody can read is not agreed to. B) No. Short terms leave out what matters when something goes wrong.
  • Should users be paid for the data that apps collect about them? A) Yes. The data is what the company sells. B) No. The free service is the payment.

News and what is true 12

  • Is social media a good place to get the news? A) Yes. It is fast, free and shows many viewpoints. B) No. Speed and accuracy pull in opposite directions.
  • Should a correction be shown to everyone who saw the original post? A) Yes. The fix should travel as far as the mistake. B) No. Repeating the claim reminds people of it.
  • Should a platform remove false posts instead of adding a warning? A) Yes. A warning still leaves the post to spread. B) No. Removing posts makes a company the judge of what is true.
  • Should accounts run by software have to say so? A) Yes. You should know whether a person is behind the words. B) No. Plenty of useful automatic accounts would be buried under labels.
  • Should AI-made images carry a visible label? A) Yes. People should know whether a camera was involved. B) No. Labels are easy to remove, so they only mark the honest.
  • Should news outlets be paid when platforms show their stories? A) Yes. Reporting costs money, and the platform earns from it. B) No. The platform sends them readers for free.
  • Should people have to open an article before they can share it? A) Yes. A headline is not the story. B) No. An app should not set you homework.
  • Should platforms label posts that fact-checkers find false? A) Yes. A label informs without deleting anything. B) No. Someone has to choose the checkers, and they can be wrong.
  • Should posts from experts be ranked above everyone else's on science topics? A) Yes. Knowledge is not a popularity contest. B) No. Someone must decide who counts as an expert.
  • Should satire accounts have to say they are joking? A) Yes. Out of context, a joke reads as a fact. B) No. A joke that explains itself is not one.
  • Should the public be told how a feed decides what to show first? A) Yes. Something that shapes what millions read should be open. B) No. Publishing the recipe teaches people to game it.
  • Should the share count stay hidden until you have opened the link? A) Yes. You would judge the story, not the crowd. B) No. A count helps you find what people are talking about.

Influencers and paid posts 12

  • Is a creator's recommendation more trustworthy than an ad? A) Yes. A creator's name is on the line. B) No. An ad at least admits that it is an ad.
  • Should a platform share ad money with everyone whose posts keep people scrolling? A) Yes. Users make the content that sells the ads. B) No. Paying for attention rewards the loudest posts.
  • Should ads be removed from the feeds of users under 16? A) Yes. Young users should not be the product. B) No. Without ads, somebody has to pay for the service.
  • Should being an influencer count as a real job? A) Yes. It takes planning, filming, editing and selling. B) No. A job should not depend on going viral.
  • Should buying followers be against the rules? A) Yes. A bought audience misleads everyone who sees the number. B) No. It is a harmless shortcut that fools nobody for long.
  • Should creators be able to sell to fans directly inside the app? A) Yes. It cuts out the middleman. B) No. It turns every post into a shop window.
  • Should follower counts be hidden? A) Yes. People would follow what they like, not what is big. B) No. A count tells you who has earned an audience.
  • Should free products sent to a creator count as payment? A) Yes. A free gift shapes a review. B) No. Nobody can review a thing without trying it.
  • Should giveaways that make you tag friends be banned? A) Yes. They turn your friends into the entry fee. B) No. Nobody has to enter.
  • Should influencers answer for products they promote that turn out to be faulty? A) Yes. They were paid to vouch for it. B) No. The maker built it and should answer for it.
  • Should influencers have to label every paid post? A) Yes. Viewers should know when they are being sold to. B) No. Regular viewers can tell without a label.
  • Should retouched photos in ads carry a label? A) Yes. An ad should not pass off an edit as real. B) No. Every photo is edited a little, so every ad would be labeled.

Time and attention 12

  • Is a week off social media worth trying once a year? A) Yes. You find out which parts you actually miss. B) No. A week proves nothing, and you only fall behind.
  • Should a feed be ordered by time instead of by an algorithm? A) Yes. You would see what your friends posted, in order. B) No. You would miss the best posts under a pile of new ones.
  • Should apps be designed so that people use them less? A) Yes. A tool should do its job and let you go. B) No. No company will build a product people use less.
  • Should apps show your daily time total on the home screen? A) Yes. A number in plain sight is hard to argue with. B) No. An app that scolds you gets deleted.
  • Should autoplay be off unless you switch it on? A) Yes. Watching the next video should be a choice. B) No. Most people like it, and the switch is right there.
  • Should families make dinner a phone-free zone? A) Yes. One meal a day deserves full attention. B) No. A rule at the table only moves the phone under it.
  • Should feeds come to an end instead of scrolling forever? A) Yes. A last page tells you that you are done. B) No. People can decide for themselves when to stop.
  • Should like counts be visible only to the person who posted? A) Yes. Then nobody posts just to keep score. B) No. A count is feedback, and the audience wants it too.
  • Should notifications pause at night unless you turn them back on? A) Yes. Nothing posted at 2 a.m. needs an answer at 2 a.m. B) No. People work and live on different clocks.
  • Should one account be limited in how many posts it can make in a day? A) Yes. A feed should not belong to whoever posts most. B) No. Live events and news need many posts.
  • Should streaks and daily rewards be banned from apps? A) Yes. They make opening the app a chore you cannot skip. B) No. A streak is a harmless game between friends.
  • Should users be able to turn off the recommendation feed completely? A) Yes. You should be able to see only what you asked for. B) No. Recommendations are how new voices get found.