Nearly a quarter of UK five-to-seven-year-olds now have their own smartphone, Ofcom research suggests.
Social media use also rose in the age group over last year with nearly two in five using messaging service WhatsApp, despite its minimum age of 13.
The communications regulator warned parental enforcement of rules "appeared to be diminishing."
Children as young as nine have been added to malicious WhatsApp groups promoting self-harm, sexual violence and racism, a BBC investigation has found.
* Go to WhatsApp Group settings to restrict who can add you to a group.
The minimum age to use WhatsApp in Europe and the UK will fall from 16 to 13. It is currently 13 in other countries including the US, and WhatsApp said it had made the decision to ensure consistency.
Teachers used swearing and poo emojis to criticise vulnerable primary school pupils in a WhatsApp group chat, BBC Scotland News can reveal.
The existence of the chat between staff at Aberdeenshire schools was first revealed last year but the affected pupils' parents were not informed.
The messages have now been obtained by the BBC and show derogatory exchanges about pupils and parents.
Meta wants to shift the burden of monitoring social media usage among teens back to the app stores — and to parents.
Meta’s global head of Safety, Antigone Davis, argues that parents should be responsible for approving their teens’ app downloads and staked Meta’s position in supporting federal legislation that would require parental approval for app downloads for users under the age of 16.
A town in southern Spain is in shock after it emerged that AI-generated naked images of young local girls had been circulating on social media without their knowledge.
Police are now investigating and according to reports, at least 11 local boys have been identified as having involvement in either the creation of the images or their circulation via the WhatsApp and Telegram apps.
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