New, ambitious safety standards for tech firms are now in place, promising a significantly safer online experience for children across the UK. This isn't just about giving us, as parents, peace of mind; it's about making the online world a better, more responsible place for our kids.
Ofcom understands that being online is simply part of everyday life for children today. They’ve engaged with countless children and parents to understand how we use these services and what our concerns are. The goal is to ensure children can continue to enjoy the immense benefits of the internet, while holding websites, social media platforms, games, and apps far more accountable for the safety of their young users.
What Do These New Measures Mean for Your Child’s Online Safety?
These new rules are designed to bring about a major step forward in protecting children from the most harmful content and activities online. Here’s a breakdown of how they will make a difference:
- Effective Age-Checks: No more easy access to harmful content. Platforms must now implement robust age verification to prevent children from seeing things like pornography, self-harm, eating disorders, or suicide content.
- Safer Feeds: Algorithms are powerful, and now they'll be working for our children's safety. Platforms must ensure that harmful content isn’t recommended to children in their feeds.
- Fast Action: When harmful content is identified, sites and apps must have processes in place to review, assess, and swiftly remove it.
- More Choice and Support: Children will have greater control over their online experience. This includes the ability to indicate content they dislike, accept or decline group chat invitations, block and mute accounts, and disable comments on their own posts. Crucially, there will be supportive information available for children who have encountered or searched for harmful content.
- Easier Reporting and Complaints: Reporting inappropriate content or making a complaint to a platform must be straightforward for children, and providers should respond with appropriate action. Terms of service also need to be clear and understandable for young users.
- More Responsibility: Every online service will now have a named individual responsible for children's safety, and a senior body must annually review the safety measures in place.
It’s important to note that these measures build upon existing rules to protect users from illegal online harms, such as grooming. And here's the powerful part: it doesn't matter where a company is based. If a site or app can be accessed by children in the UK, these laws apply, and Ofcom is ready to enforce them.
What Can You Do as a Parent?
While the primary responsibility for keeping children safe online now firmly rests with tech firms, parents still have a vital role to play. We know that many children unfortunately encounter harmful content or activity online, and it can have serious impacts. Here are some top tips to help manage the risks:
- Talk Regularly: Open up conversations with your children about what they're doing online. Encourage them to tell you if they see anything that makes them feel uncomfortable or that they think is harmful.
- Real Age Registration: Ensure your children register with online services using their real age. This helps platforms filter content appropriately for their age group.
- Know How to Report: Make sure your children know how to report inappropriate or harmful content, how to block accounts, and encourage them not to share such content themselves. If content is illegal, report it to the police. (Remember, Ofcom cannot deal with individual complaints about online content.)
- Utilise Parental Controls: These are incredibly useful tools for monitoring and limiting screen time, and what your children can access online. The Ofcom video (below) explains Parental Controls.
There are also excellent resources available from various organisations that can provide further support and advice:
- The Safer Internet Centre: Packed with information to help you keep your child safe online.
- The NSPCC Online Safety Hub: Offers advice for both parents and children, including tips on how to initiate those important online safety conversations.
- Internet Matters: Provides information, advice, and even a tailored digital toolkit to help your family navigate the digital world.
The Online Safety Act: The Bigger Picture
Today's measures are part of the broader Online Safety Act, a landmark set of laws designed to protect everyone from illegal content online, and specifically to protect children from harmful content. It legally obliges tech firms to prioritise their users' safety and grants Ofcom the power to enforce these laws, including taking action against companies that fail to comply.
Crucially, the Act applies to all sites and apps that children could use, regardless of the device they're accessed on. It doesn’t prevent children from using social media or set a minimum age for it. Instead, it demands that social media companies consistently enforce their own age limits and protect their child users.
While the Act doesn't cover parental decisions about smartphone ownership, the changes that sites and apps will have to implement as a result of these rules will undoubtedly make the online world a safer place for children of all ages.
This is a significant step forward, and a promise Ofcom is making to parents. Let’s work together to ensure our children can enjoy the digital world safely and responsibly.
Source: Ofcom (24 April 2025)
