The battle to save our children goes global

IT IS less than a week since child safety campaigners won a significant victory in the battle to protect our youngsters from those who manipulate them online.

In a historic Dáil vote that will prove beneficial to both today’s youth and future generations, plans by Fine Gael to set the digital age of consent at 13 were defeated.

Much to the relief of families across the country, it has instead been set at 16.

Yesterday, this newspaper welcomed another positive development in the same sphere. The Department of Education is now contacting every school in the country over their own policies on the use of smartphones, tablets and other devices.

To be fair, there is nothing to suggest that this is simply an exercise in box-ticking.

Schools where a policy on smartphones already exists are being told to review the protocols. And the boards of management are under orders to promptly consult teachers, pupils and parents.

We also need to look at other ways of safeguarding our children from the threat posed by social media.

Accordingly, new proposals by the UK government are worthy of attention. They include limiting the amount of time anyone under the age of 18 can spend online to two hours a day.

Perhaps the most notable aspect of the initiative, though, is the determined effort to put the onus of responsibility back on the tech firms. We have repeatedly been told these powerful companies aren’t in a position to check users’ ages or monitor how long they spend on any particular website or social media forum.

This simply isn’t the case. Due to their very sophisticated methods of gathering data, these companies are able to compile a detailed picture of any user’s personal details and tastes.

At the very least, the measures outlined in Britain deserve the consideration of our political leaders. Regardless of the precise details of UK culture secretary Matt Hancock’s initiative, he certainly seems to have got it right in terms of emphasis.

The bottom line is that the pressure needs to be put on the multinationals when it comes to age and other matters related to our children’s online usage. No longer should the tech giants be allowed to shirk their moral responsibility.