Annual report 2007-08
At our Summer event, children and young people chose Violence, Abuse and Bullying as the theme they wanted us to work on in 2008/09. We spent a lot of time visiting children and young people’s groups across England, documenting what they had to say in young offender institutes, health services and schools to name but […]
Tackling harmful content on Facebook – Anne Longfield’s letter to Facebook’s Head of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg
The following open letter to Nick Clegg, Facebook’s Head of Global Affairs, was published in The Daily Telegraph on Jan 30, 2020. Dear Sir Nick, I was very interested to hear the interview you gave the BBC from Davos as Facebook’s Head of Global Affairs. You were discussing concerns I have been raising about your […]
Archived Content
Anti-Bullying Week – The “B” word
As we come to the end of Anti-Bullying Week, our Children’s Writer Chris Thompson reflects on his visit to an anti-bullying workshop. With thanks to Kidscape for inviting us to attend and listen to the views and experiences of children who have been bullied. “There’s no quick fix. Today is the start of a journey.” […]
Rotherham drama students make a “Safe Place” from bullying
As part of Anti Bullying Week, we’ll be highlighting some of the activities happening up and down the country and speaking to children, young people and their families about how they’re taking part. A group of college students from Rotherham College have devised a play about bullying which they are performing to primary school children […]
Gaming the system
The overwhelming majority of children (93 percent) in the UK play video games. Yet despite its popularity, the culture of ‘gaming’- its rules and its rituals, the varying profiles of players, the risks they face – tends to be spoken of by adults, whether they be policymakers or parents, as if it were an alien […]
The state of child poverty and how we can tackle it
On the United Nations Day for Poverty Eradication we should never fail to be shocked that we are talking about child poverty when are one of the wealthiest countries on earth. Yet as all of us here know, the number of children living in poverty has been steadily increasing in recent years. There are around […]
The World Wide Web at 30: Re-imagining a web built for children
Between 9 – 10 May, the Children’s Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, hosted a conference on children’s digital rights at BBC Salford for ENOC – the network of Children’s Commissioners and Ombudsmen from all over Europe. Pupils from two local schools, Chorlton High School and Manchester Communication Academy, joined the conference for a session in […]
Children’s Commissioner publishes a statutory Duty of Care for online service providers
A couple of years ago, one of the biggest social media companies accused me in a meeting of ‘trying to shut down the internet’ after I dared to ask them to be more transparent and to take responsibility for the appalling content hosted on their platform. I wanted them to be an engaged player in […]
Online platforms must do more to tackle social media content which is harmful to children
The following letter, written by Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, has been sent to several of the leading social media organisations, including Facebook, which includes Instagram and WhatsApp, Snapchat, Youtube and Pinterest. The tragic suicide of Molly Russell and her father’s appalled response to the material she was viewing on social media before her […]
Children’s Commissioner launches social media giants’ terms and conditions ‘jargon-buster’ to give kids more power in digital world
Simplified versions of T&Cs for schools across England are designed to give children more power and information
Digital 5 A Day In The Classroom
Digital 5 A Day is a framework to help children get the most from their time online and to balance digital activity with overall wellbeing. Digital 5 A Day is a tool for parents, carers and others working with young people to use in framing discussion about social media use and broader digital citizenship. In this blog post teacher, Dave Presky, reflects on how Digital 5 A Day can be applied in the classroom.
Children left to fend for themselves in the digital world
Children’s Commissioner calls for a digital ombudsman to mediate for children over removal of content and more transparent corporate