“I’ve seen horrible things”: Children’s experiences of the online world

The online world has evolved significantly since I started as Children’s Commissioner in 2021. A technological revolution followed the COVID-19 pandemic – featuring the launch of new Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools into the public realm and the increasing presence of social media platforms in the lives of children. As we mark the first anniversary of the Online Safety Act 2023, which intended to make the UK the safest place to be a child online, this report reveals how far we are from realising this ambition, based on children’s own experiences.

As Children’s Commissioner, I want to see an urgency in the pace of change from government and the tech companies that matches the speed of evolution that we are seeing online.

Children are digital pioneers and we need to listen, learn and act on what they tell us – especially when it comes to the online world.

Earlier this year, the findings in my Big Ambition survey set out the issues that matter most to children. Of the 367,000 children and adults who engaged on their behalf, online safety emerged as a key area. Anyone who has spent any time speaking to children will not be surprised by this. The lines between their lives online and lives offline have blurred. These two previously distinct worlds have collided, and it is our duty as adults to keep pace with this, to help children harness the good and the bad.

One of the other key findings from The Big Ambition was that only one in five children feel that they are listened to by decision makers, yet this is a generation that is ambitious, passionate and brimming with ideas for change. They just need decision makers to listen.

It’s clear they want to engage with all the opportunities that the online world offers them – the chance to socialise, learn and play in online spaces – but it must be in a safe way.

Their experience online is entirely different to that of adults, and they are affected by content in different ways. Content that adults may not find harmful can be extremely damaging for children. For example, the impact misinformation has on children as we saw this summer. The riots in Southport demonstrate the extreme consequences of failure to tackle and correct misinformation, and how swiftly it can take root.

Research by my office has found that 91% of children aged 13 to 18 in England use a social media platform. This report illustrates what it is like for them.

Despite 71% agreeing they felt safe online, children shared concerning details about some of the harmful things that happen to them there. The online world should be treated like every other space that provides a service to children: it must be built with their safety at its core.

The implementation of the Online Safety Act is moving at a pace far slower than the growth of new technologies and the technology companies that develop them.

Children are not only being left to contend with harmful elements of the online world which are provided for in the legislation but are also being exposed to new risks and harms. They are being asked to wait for protections to be put in place for them, and in the meantime, my office is finding that many of them are being harmed in the process.

Some groups of children feel particularly exposed, with children as young as five, and children with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) both disproportionately reporting that they feel unsafe.

Children have shared how images and tools on social media platforms are impacting the way they feel about themselves. Those children who do not feel safe online are particularly affected, with just 28% of them agreeing that they were happy with the way they look – this is a shocking statistic.

Today I am repeating my call for urgent action to both technology companies and the government – and to all those who are responsible for children’s safety online.

We cannot afford to be passive, or we risk failing this generation and generations to come.

With the regulations being designed by Ofcom, we have the opportunity to create a regulatory regime that is fit to properly grapple with the multiple hazards that exist in the online world and take decisive steps to prevent them. But at the moment, the safety of children remains unacceptably subject to the whim of technology companies.

Children know this – too many have told me their voices are going unheard, and their experiences on social media sites ignored by the companies set to profit from them. We must all listen to what they are telling us and then act.

Alongside this report I am publishing my response to Ofcom’s Children’s Code consultation, which makes practical recommendations for how the principles laid down in this report should be put in place, based on children’s own views. A safe online world is my minimum expectation for children’s digital futures.

My ambition for children is for them to be able to learn and develop safely online, benefitting from every advantage available to them with the risks removed. Every child should believe their safety is being prioritised in the same way it is at school or in the local park with the knowledge that they are safe from harm.

Given the pace of the technological revolution we have seen in the last year alone I know that it is possible to do better, to go further and far sooner if the intention and resources are put in the right place. That’s the only way the UK can live up to its promise: that the UK would be the safest place in
the world for a child to be online.

The Online Safety Act signalled the start of a new era for online regulation and now we need to listen to the voices of our children and act with hope and determination.