As Children’s Commissioner, I have spoken to hundreds of thousands of children about the online world and the impact this has on their daily lives. This ranges from what they like to do online, to how long they spend online and the kind of content they come across.
It was clear from The Big Ambition that children do not see a difference between their online and offline worlds. While it’s clear the online world offers children many benefits, it comes with difficult challenges, with children telling my office about negative experiences including cyberbullying or seeing extreme or inappropriate content.
Children consistently tell me they want better protection in the online world, to make it safer when they use it – a sentiment I support. This is a generation that has grown up in the digital age, for whom being online is just part of everyday life and who don’t know a world without these connections. They expect to be kept safe online, just as they expect to be kept safe in their real-life communities.
That’s why I was delighted my young Ambassadors Rhea and Maximilian were able to interview Ofcom’s chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes.
Among key themes discussed in my second The Big Conversation Podcast was online safety – with Maximilian and Rhea quizzing Dame Melanie on how the Online Safety Act was implemented last year and Ofcom’s role in keeping children safe online.
Dame Melanie explained that Ofcom has set out detail in the Online Safety Act ‘making sure that if you’re under 18 you can’t see pornography, you can’t see suicide, you can’t see self-harm material, you can’t be contacted by an adult you don’t know.’
Dame Melanie stressed that this was ‘just the start and that Ofcom were particularly keen to hear from teenagers next year, because we want young people to be able to continue to use these services and connect online but be safe while doing it.’
My Ambassadors, who have met representatives from the social media and tech companies, questioned how the Act would be effective against harmful content.
Dame Melanie said: “I think that, as it is, the Online Safety Act is very, very forceful and will achieve a lot of change, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t need to be careful or watchful about where there might be a few gaps and where, particularly where technology begins to drive new services like generative AI – which can raise issues around deep fakes and serious disinformation which can be really abusive for individuals.
“I think the Act broadly covers that, but we constantly look and make sure the right acts and services are under the Act. I think it’s a good piece of legislation and for Ofcom to implement it, it’s quite a big job already but I suspect our parliament, and government will want to add to it as things change.”
When asked what one thing she would like to see change online, Dame Melanie said she would like to see a change in how companies value the online experiences of their users, to ensure they have positive experiences.
Maximilian and Rhea concluded the podcast by asking Dame Melanie what advice she would give to both parents and children about staying safe online. To parents, she said that children spend a lot of time online and that’s a fact which is unlikely to change so it’s important to have conversations to understand what children are doing. Dame Melanie said young people should look out for each other online more, especially when bullying takes place online.
You can listen to the full interview with Dame Melanie Dawes below:
