When David Beckham walked into the World Economic Forum in Davos, the spotlight quickly shifted from his football legacy to his parenting philosophy in the age of Instagram and TikTok. Asked about children and social media, he chose his words carefully, knowing that every line would be read against the backdrop of his own family’s very public tensions. His comments on letting kids make mistakes online have turned a rare celebrity parenting soundbite into a global talking point.
What makes the moment so charged is timing. Beckham’s appearance came just as his eldest son, Brooklyn Beckham, used Instagram to air grievances about his parents, accusing them of prioritising image over intimacy. Against that backdrop, the former England captain’s call for empathy, boundaries and second chances for young people online sounded less like a generic panel remark and more like a live response to a family drama unfolding in real time.
At Davos, a father talks about kids, mistakes and the internet
On stage at the World Economic Forum, David Beckham framed his view of social media around a simple idea: Children are allowed to make mistakes. Speaking to CNBC in Davos, he described a parenting balance that mixes firm guardrails with the acceptance that teenagers and young adults will sometimes get things wrong in public. That stance, coming from a man who has lived under tabloid scrutiny since his teens, carries a particular weight in a room full of policymakers and tech executives debating how to regulate platforms used by billions of young people.
Beckham has been explicit that the online world is not neutral terrain. In a separate interview, he warned that “the bad we have talked about with what kids can access these days, it can be dangerous,” before adding that he still sees value in the way platforms let his children connect and express themselves, as long as they understand the risks and responsibilities that come with that freedom. He said those lessons are part of what he tries “to teach my kids,” a line that underscored his role not just as a global brand but as a father trying to guide four children through a digital landscape that did not exist when he first became famous, a point reflected in his comments reported by People.
Brooklyn’s Instagram accusations put family and branding on blast
The reason every syllable from Davos is being dissected is that it arrived just after a lengthy Instagram post from Brooklyn Beckham that read like a manifesto against curated family image-making. In that post, Brooklyn accused his parents of controlling “narratives in the press” about the family through what he described as “performative social media posts” designed to “preserve their own facade,” claims detailed in coverage of his comments on Brooklyn’s words. He framed his outburst as a break from that pattern, using the same platforms his parents have mastered to challenge the story he believes they have told about him.
Many of the grievances he laid out trace back to the Peltz-Beckham wedding in Florida, where he married Nicola Peltz, the daughter of US billionaire Nelson Peltz. According to Brooklyn, many of the issues he described stem from that event, where he felt that branding decisions and commercial considerations overshadowed the wedding itself and left emotional scars that have lingered. Reporting on those grievances has highlighted how a single, lavish celebration became a flashpoint for a broader argument about whether the Beckham family’s public-facing empire has come at the expense of private trust.
Silence, soundbites and what Beckham’s stance signals to other parents
In the immediate aftermath of Brooklyn’s post, David Beckham initially chose not to respond in detail, with reports noting that he declined to comment directly on the accusations when first asked. Coverage of that moment stressed that David Beckham refused to be drawn into a public back and forth with his son. When he did speak more broadly about young people online, he returned to the theme that children should be allowed to “make those mistakes,” a line that has been widely interpreted as a gentle, if oblique, nod to Brooklyn’s very public airing of family conflict.
By the time he sat down with CNBC in Davos, the question of kids and social media was no longer theoretical for Beckham, it was painfully personal. Asked directly about children using platforms like Instagram, he said he has “always spoken” about the need for safety and guidance, a sentiment echoed in social posts that shared his remarks with hashtags like “safetyfirstkids” and “savetheparents.” His broader comments, captured in coverage of how David Beckham was asked about kids online after Brooklyn’s statement, suggest a parent who sees social media as both a risk and an inevitability that must be managed rather than wished away.
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