{"id":23225,"date":"2025-07-26T09:07:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T09:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/23225\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T09:07:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T09:07:17","slug":"judge-us-by-impact-of-new-online-safety-measures-for-children-says-regulator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/23225\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge us by impact of new online safety measures for children, says regulator"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle \u2013 Photo James Manning\/PA Wire<\/p>\n

Parents and children can expect to \u201cexperience a different internet for the first time\u201d, according to the Technology Secretary as new safety measures came into effect.<\/p>\n

Peter Kyle said he had \u201chigh expectations\u201d for the changes, as the head of the regulator in charge of enforcement against social media platforms which do not comply urged the public to \u201cjudge us by the impact we secure\u201d.<\/p>\n

While some campaigners have welcomed the new protections \u2013 which include age checks to prevent children accessing pornography and other harmful content \u2013 others have branded them a \u201csticking plaster\u201d.<\/p>\n

Charities and other organisations working in the sector of children\u2019s safety have agreed the key will be ensuring the measures are enforced, urging Ofcom to \u201cshow its teeth\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Harm<\/p>\n

The changes also require platforms to ensure algorithms do not work to harm children by, for example, pushing such content on the likes of self harm and eating disorders towards them.<\/p>\n

Actions which could be taken against firms which fail to adhere to the new codes include fines of up to \u00a318 million or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater, and court orders potentially blocking access in the UK.<\/p>\n

Mr Kyle has said a generation of children will not be allowed to grow up \u201cat the mercy of toxic algorithms\u201d as he pledged the Government is laying the foundations for a safer, healthier, more humane online world and warned tech firms \u201cwill be held to account\u201d if they fail to act in line with the changes.<\/p>\n

He told Sky News: \u201cI have very high expectations of the change that children will experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd let me just say this to parents and children, you will experience a different internet really, for the first time in from today, moving forward than you\u2019ve had in the past. And that is a big step forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

The measures, as part of the Online Safety Act and set to be enforced by regulator Ofcom, require online platforms to have age checks \u2013 using facial age estimation or credit card checks \u2013 if they host pornography or other harmful content such as self-harm, suicide or eating disorders.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

New measures<\/p>\n

Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes said the regulator\u2019s research had shown half a million eight to 14-year-olds have come across pornography online in the last month alone.<\/p>\n

When it was put to her by the BBC that one of their staff members testing out the new measures had been able to sign up to a well-known porn site on Friday using just an email address, she said sites will be \u201cchecking patterns of email use\u201d behind the scenes to verify users are adults.<\/p>\n

She told Radio 4\u2019s Today programme: \u201cWe\u2019ve shown that we\u2019ve got teeth and that we\u2019re prepared to use them at Ofcom. And we have secured commitments across the porn industry and from the likes of X that no other country has secured. These things can work.<\/p>\n

\u201cJudge us by the impact we secure. And absolutely, please do tell us if you think there\u2019s something we need to know about that isn\u2019t working because the law is very clear now.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also said the Government is right to be considering limits on the amount of time children can spend on social media apps.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Mr Kyle said he wanted to tackle \u201ccompulsive behaviour\u201d and ministers are reportedly considering a two-hour limit, with curfews also under discussion.<\/p>\n

Dame Melanie told LBC: \u201cI think the Government is right to be opening up this question. I think we\u2019re all a bit addicted to our phones, adults and children, obviously particularly a concern for young people. So, I think it\u2019s a good thing to be moving on to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Children\u2019s charities the NSPCC and Barnardo\u2019s are among those who have welcomed the new checks in place from Friday, as well as the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF).<\/p>\n

Safeguards<\/p>\n

The IWF warned the \u201csafeguards put in place need to be robust and meaningful\u201d and said there is \u201cstill more to be done\u201d, as they urged tech platforms to to build in safeguards rather than having them as \u201can afterthought\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Molly Rose Foundation \u2013 set up by bereaved father Ian Russell after his 14-year-old daughter Molly took her own life having viewed harmful content on social media \u2013 said there is a \u201clack of ambition and accountability\u201d in the measures, and accused the regulator of choosing to \u201cprioritise the business needs of big tech over children\u2019s safety\u201d.<\/p>\n

Andy Burrows, chief executive of the foundation, told Sky News: \u201cWe\u2019ve always had a very simple test for the Online Safety Act, will it stop further young people like Molly from dying because of the harmful design of social media platforms?<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd regrettably, we just don\u2019t think it passes that test. This is a sticking plaster, not the comprehensive solution that we really need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ofcom said it has also launched a monitoring and impact programme focused on some of the platforms where children spend most time including social media sites Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, gaming site Roblox and video clip website YouTube.<\/p>\n

The sites are among those which have been asked to submit, by August 7, a review of their efforts to assess risks to children and, by September 30, scrutiny of the practical actions they are taking to keep children safe.<\/p>\n

Support our Nation today<\/p>\n

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\n independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by
\n the people of Wales.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle \u2013 Photo James Manning\/PA Wire Parents and children can expect to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[64,63,237,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-23225","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-internet","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-internet","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}