The NSPCC has asked parents and young people how they feel about the impact of smartphones and social media on child safety and wellbeing. Young people told the NSPCC that they feel trying to keep them away from smartphones and social media was unrealistic in an online world, and that having a phone to...
Youth Mental Health Day urges young people to control their scroll
It’s Youth Mental Health Day and the theme for 2024 is #ControlYourScroll. Youth Mental Health Day is an annual awareness campaign falling on 19th September which aims to raise awareness and foster discussion around the mental health challenges young people face. This year, the mental health campaign, spearheaded by youth mental health charity stem4,...
Youth group to advise on child safety online
A new group of young people has been set up to advise politicians, regulators, parents and professionals about child safety online. The Voice of Online Youth group consists of 15 young people aged 13-16 from across the UK. They were selected based on their passion for helping children to remain safe online. The group...
Online abuse survivors call for action
Survivors of online abuse are joining together to call on the government to tackle violence against women and girls through the Online Safety Bill. A group of women, many of them public figures, who have experienced child sexual abuse, gendered violence and online misogyny have signed an open letter urging Prime Minister Rishi Sunak...
NSPCC: online child abuse risks becoming ‘normalised’
The NSPCC has called for effective action to be written into the Online Safety Bill as “alarming” new data reveals a 66% increase in child abuse image offences recorded by UK police forces in the past 5 years. Data obtained from a Freedom of Information Request (FOIR) has revealed that over 30,000 crimes involving...
Social media firms introduce global measures to protect children
Leading social media platforms have implemented new global measures to protect children after the UK introduced new regulations aimed at ensuring child safety online. On Thursday 2nd September 2021, the UK introduced a new set of regulations to protect children when they are online, which include the possibility of multi-million-dollar fines for any companies...
More than 100 online sex crimes against children recorded each day
The NSPCC has revealed that online sex crimes recorded against children have passed the equivalent of 100 per day. Analysis of the latest Home Office data shows that, between January and March 2020, the number of online sex crimes against children recorded by police reached the equivalent of 101 per day across England and...