Childnet, a UK charity partly funded by tech giants Snap, Roblox, and Meta, has come under fire for censoring two teenagers invited to speak about social media dangers. Lewis Swire, 19, and Saamya Ghai, 16, were asked to present at Safer Internet Day 2024 in London. But the charity removed their warnings about social media addiction being an “imminent threat to our future.” They also cut statements calling obsessive scrolling “one of the worst psychological addictions in history” and highlighting social media’s role in a “devastating epidemic” of loneliness. Swire and Ghai say the edits silenced important truths. Swire said he “felt censored” and “almost betrayed” by the charity, which had asked them to speak out but then watered down their message. Ghai called the deletion “hypocritical.” Swire's references to friends unable to quit TikTok or Snapchat to keep streaks or income were also cut. Childnet's CEO Will Gardner denied the edits were to protect their tech funders. He said edits happened because of event constraints and tone, not funding pressures. "We would certainly advise and edit around tone and language but we wouldn’t stop young people making a point," he said. However, campaigners spoke out strongly. Daisy Greenwell, co-founder of Smartphone Free Childhood, said teens “should not be asked to censor themselves to protect the commercial interests of Big Tech.” Harry Amies, of the parent network Unplug.Scot, said many UK parents would be shocked Safer Internet Day gets funding from addictive social media companies. Swire now campaigns to ban social media use by under-16s. His original speech included powerful stories of young people trapped in social media habits, cut from the final version. The controversy exposes tensions between tech funding and true internet safety advocacy.