How to keep children safe on the internet

The internet has been a liberating revolution in communications. But it is also potentially a malign one. It allows content, images and opinions that would once have been curtailed or forbidden to be easily available at the touch of a button. Whereas children in the past could not access pornography, watch violent films or join adult communities without great difficulty, now it is commonplace for them to do all three. Moreover, they are inducted at an early age into online environments designed to encourage habitual use, if not outright addiction – often before they are old enough to legitimately use them.

The state used to put laws in place to protect young people from influences likely to harm them. Indeed, these laws remain on the statute book. But they are useless when they cannot be applied to the medium that most children use. Policing what some politicians have referred to as the untamed “Wild West” of the internet is one of the great challenges of our time. How to regulate an online world whose very existence is essentially a denial of the role and scope of regulation?

The Government has been very good at identifying the problem, but ministers and officials have struggled to find an answer. Matt Hancock, the current Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, seems determined to get a grip of the situation and yet another consultation is taking place with the digital giants under pressure to finally act. For their part, the companies say they are doing their best to monitor and clean up various sites, but little changes.

We do not doubt the Government’s good intentions and hope that the latest policy documents from Whitehall, which are at best a muddle and at worst a smokescreen for inaction, are not a sign of things to come. What is needed is legislation that is both future-proof and flexible – not a complex prescriptive code of practice which would be rapidly overtaken by events.

We propose building on something that already exists in many walks of life – a statutory duty of care. This should be applied to all social media and online gaming companies that allow minors to use their systems. Backed by a regulator like Ofcom, any breaches would result in legal action against the companies, or their British arms if they are based abroad.

This would be a simple and straightforward approach that is well established in British law and understood by prosecutors and the courts.

We accept letters by post, fax and email only. Please include name, address, work and home telephone numbers.

111 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 0DT

FAX

020 7931 2878

EMAIL dtletters@ telegraph.co.uk

FOLLOW Telegraph Letters on Twitter @Lettersdesk