The UK has ‘not yet fully grappled with how we give children and young people the childhood they deserve and prepare them for the future in an age of rapid technological change’, according to a UK government consultation on social media.
Due to run until May 26, the consultation asks among other things whether the digital ‘age of consent’ should be raised, although the consultation admits ‘that raising the age does not necessarily stop teenagers under the age of consent from using social networks’; and how to use age verification and age assurance technologies.
A document to introduce the consultation argues that in the Online Safety Actย 2023 the UK set up one of the strongest systems in the world for protecting children from illegal and harmful content online; and that law ‘will remain the foundation’ for online safety. The Government has since announced, that it will make online content that promotes self-harm and suicide a โpriority offenceโ under the Online Safety Act ‘so platforms must take proactive steps to stop users seeing this material in the first place, and swiftly take it down if it appears’.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said: “The path to a good life is a great childhood, one full of love, learning and play. That applies just as much to the online world as it does to the real one. We know parents everywhere are grappling with how much screen time their children should have, when they should give them a phone, what they are seeing online, and the impact all of this is having.
“This is why weโre asking children and parents to take part in this landmark consultation on how young people can thrive in an age of rapid technological change. Together, we will create a digital world that gives young people the childhood they deserve and prepares them for the future.”
Official guidance about who to trust online, conversation starters and safety advice is on the โKids Online Safetyโ campaign website. The regulator of ‘online harms’ under the 2023 Act, Ofcom, says that broadly, the Online Safety Act regulates user-to-user services, search services and services that publish ‘illegal and harmful’ such as pornographic content; not chatbots.
And Scotland
Meanwhile, the Holyrood Government is also running a consultation until June 19; covering among other things drink spiking crimes; and proposing a new offence to address the use of artificial intelligence tools to create intimate images without consent. The Scottish Government’s Justice Secretary Angela Constance said: โViolence against women and girls is abhorrent and we must ensure we are doing all we can to tackle it, whether it is established or emerging forms of harm. We have made significant progress already – including the introduction of the domestic abuse offence, improved training for those supporting victims and new powers to enforce protective orders in Scotland imposed elsewhere in the UK.
โFor this consultation I am particularly keen to hear from those with direct experience of harm. The responses will help to inform future action that is needed to achieve the outcome we all seek: stronger protections and actions which lead to lower levels of violence against women and girls and a safer Scotland.โ
