‘Tough action needed to protect children online’
LAST week the Safeguarding Minister Rachel Maclean joined me at Stokeon-trent Sixth Form College for a roundtable discussion with students, to hear their views on online safety.
We also discussed how the curriculum might include more about safety in general, and the difficulty of online censorship when there was genuine need for debate on topics such as sexuality.
An interesting example was of a young person with Tourette syndrome whose site was censored because of bad language which was a result of his medical condition.
It highlights the fact that algorithms alone are not the answer to policing content. There was unanimous agreement, though, that more needs to be done.
Tragically, child exploitation is a particular problem in Stoke-on-trent. Last year, Staffordshire Police, Stokeon-trent City Council and Staffordshire County Council launched an operation to crack down on gangs exploiting children through county lines drug dealing and other criminality.
However, the most vulnerable children are often groomed and recruited on online platforms and messaging services – so we must look to technology firms to build safeguards into their platforms that can prevent this sort of harmful activity.
Big tech companies have had the opportunity and resources to ensure their apps, games and platforms are designed to be safe for children.
There is no excuse not to put our children’s safety first, but many popular tech companies continue to fail in putting these safeguarding measures in place.
The simple truth is that tech companies have not gone far enough or fast enough to keep users safe online, and the speed of expansion of online business has outstripped the legislation needed to ensure checks and balances are in place.
Only four years after Sir Tim Berners-lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989, it was launched into everyday use.
Since then, it has revolutionised information-sharing and, in doing so, dramatically altered the way we communicate.
The technology has developed rapidly, with apps and sites like Instagram, Snapchat and Whatsapp becoming global phenomena. More than four-and-a-half billion people are now estimated to use the internet, or 60 per cent of the global population, and people in the UK spend an average of four hours online every day.
It is impossible for us to imagine a world without the internet and it brings many benefits to our daily lives.
However, such a seismic change in human activity rarely comes without a downside.
The internet was developed assuming an ideal world where all users are honest and respectful of others.
Sadly, we know this is not the case, and the internet has facilitated a long list of dangers, including child exploitation; terrorist content; modern slavery; extreme and revenge pornography; harassment and cyberstalking; hate crime and the sale of weapons and drugs.
Even interactions that remain virtual, such as cyberbullying, cause real harm to a victim’s mental health.
Big companies now have more power and control, and their sites are more like public spaces. People are rightly asking governments and technology companies to step up and act.
Research from online safety charity Childnet has found that fewer than half of young people trust their favourite apps, games, and social media platforms to remove content if it is reported to them.
Self-regulation failure, the ever-changing nature of technology, and children going online more and at a younger age means comprehensive regulation from the Government is urgently needed.
Children have the right to learn, play and communicate with friends safely, without fear of avoidable risk and harm. But online, this right is not enshrined in law.
That is why the government’s proposed Online Harms Bill – one that I have expressed my support for in Parliament – is so important.
For the first time, it could create a legal duty of care on companies to identify and eradicate avoidable harm to children on their sites before they are put at risk.
If those platforms fail in that duty of care, they will face steep fines of up to £18 million or 10 per cent of annual global turnover.
Companies would also be required to publish annual transparency reports to track their progress.
The measures would have a clear and immediate effect: a child would no longer be able to access pornographic images on social media and antisemitic hate crime would need to be removed without delay.
The internet is a place where the most vulnerable can be targeted and manipulated. We must ensure their protection.