24 Mar 2025

TalkCampus: Decoding the Danger - how “Adolescence” echoes our fight to keep young people safe online

The new Netflix series Adolescence is unsettling, and rightly so. It lifts the lid on the complex, often hidden world of teenagers navigating life online. For many viewers, it’s a wake-up call. For us, it’s a reality we’ve been working to address for years.

The Netflix series Adolescence has brought urgent attention to the hidden risks young people face online, particularly the growing use of coded language to discuss harmful topics like self harm and drug use. These constantly evolving codes, made up of slang, emojis, and cultural references, often bypass even the most advanced moderation tools and can easily be misunderstood by adults.

At TalkCampus, this is not new territory. We’ve been leading the way in tackling these challenges by combining technology and human expertise to protect young people online. Our moderation teams, data scientists, and community experts work together to track and decode emerging codes, retrain AI systems using real-world insights, and blend machine intelligence with human empathy and cultural understanding. We also listen directly to young people, who are often the first to spot new trends.

But our work doesn’t stop with safety monitoring. TalkCampus offers universities a smarter approach to student mental health support, providing a complete, integrated support system. This includes a 24/7 peer and trained peer support community, on-demand therapy sessions in 60 languages, engaging self-directed learning resources, and access to a 24/7 clinical helpline.

As the UK’s Online Safety Act comes into force, the need for proactive, responsive solutions has never been greater. At TalkCampus, we are building digital communities that are not just reactive but truly protective — ensuring students get the right support, at the right time, without unnecessary barriers or waste.