Love Island 2023’s New Social Media Rules & What They Mean For Contestants

6 January 2023, 12:31

By Capital FM

@CapitalOfficial

Everything you need to know about the new social media rules Love Island 2023 contestants will have to adhere to.

Love Island 2023 singletons are set to face a whole new batch of social media rules.

The new winter series, which will be hosted by Maya Jama, has seen some revamped duty of care measures, which strictly ask contestants’ social media accounts to be inactive during their time in the villa.

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This is the first time a social media ban has been put on the contestants’ Instagram & Twitter accounts, as family and friends of the singletons would typically post on their pages throughout the show.

However, the new switch-up has now been announced by ITV just days before season 9 is set to air.

Here’s a closer look at what the rules are and what they mean for the islanders…

Maya Jama stars in winter Love Island promo

What are the new Love Island social media rules?

The line-up of singletons heading on to winter Love Island 2023 will be asked to pause their social media accounts for the duration of their time on the show.

The duty of care outlined: “Islanders’ accounts will remain dormant while they are in the Villa, so that nothing is published on their behalf.”

The new rule is said to have been put in place 'to protect both the Islanders and their families from the adverse effects of social media’.

As fans of the show will know, the time the islanders are in the villa is typically when family and friends of contestants will post memes, engage with viewers and remind people to vote for their loved ones.

However, in the past, the contestants’ loved ones have been subject to online trolling and abuse, so new rules have been put in place in a bid to prevent this from happening.

Dr Matthew Gould, chartered Clinical Psychologist and consultant for Love Island's duty of care team, said of the rules: “The enhanced safeguards introduced for Love Island 2023 demonstrate ITV’s commitment to evolve Duty of Care protocols to minimize harm, where possible. 

"The bold decision to pause Islanders’ social media activity during the new series is testament to ITV’s serious intent, especially as this input provides both a benefit to the appeal of the program and a potential source of mental health problems,” he added.

Former 2021 islander Faye Winter has thrown her support behind the new measure, telling fans in an Instagram Q&A that although she thinks it’s a shame that the rule has to be put in place, she thinks it’s a good move for the conestants' loved ones.

When asked if she would have liked her social media accounts to remain inactive during her time on the show, Faye said: “For the welfare of my family and friends ABSOLUTELY but I do think what a bloody shame."

Love Island begins on January 16 at 9pm on ITV2.

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