Church of England calls for social media giants to be fined up to £50m if they fail to protect children by removing harmful content within 24 hours Bishop of Gloucester, Rt Rev Rachel Treweek, criticised social media companies She believes that they are not doing enough to protect children on social media Rt Rev Treweek called on companies to take action and remove harmful content By Danyal Hussain For Mailonline Published: 08:54 GMT, 1 February 2019 | Updated: 08:55 GMT, 1 February 2019 Viewcomments The Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Rev Rachel Treweek, has called on social media companies to do more to protect children The Church of England has slammed social media companies and accused them of not doing enough to protect children online from abuse and bullying. The Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Rev Rachel Treweek, has spearheaded the Church's efforts to force companies to take action and remove harmful content on social media. She believes that more should be done to protect children from abuse, bullying and issues of low self-esteem online. The Bishop of Gloucester, the first female bishop, added that excuses made by firms for failing to take action were no longer sustainable. She told the Telegraph: 'They should stop wringing their hands and saying it's all too complex. I am not technologically minded but I don't believe it's impossible to develop algorithms that could tackle these issues. 'I want to say to the companies: Be honest and look at what you could do responsibly.' The Rt Rev also thinks that young people should be allowed to have a bigger say in removing abusive material they come across. She also endorsed curfew restrictions on young people, to stop them accessing social media at night. Rt Rev Treweek added: 'I was utterly shocked when I met one group of girls who had been on the Sarahah app and told me how awful it was, how it was all anonymous and people could just abuse them.' Social media is an addiction, she explained, that causes hurt and upset to people who are craving positive affirmation. The Bishop also added that she believes children have a fear of missing out that is triggered by their value of themselves coming from likes or shares. She supports the idea that there should be a legal duty of care on social media and gaming firms to protect children from online harms, before pointing out that deeper issues like loneliness and isolation also need to be tackled. Meanwhile, Matt Hancock, the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, insisted that social media firms and other technology giants are not too big to regulate. Speaking at an event hosted by the Politico website, he said: 'There was an attitude that pervaded for a generation that these companies are global and therefore you can't regulate them. Not true.' Read more: Share or comment on this article: All rights reserved for this news site dailymail and under his responsibility