UK and US pledge closer working on children’s online safety

The UK and US governments are jointly pledging to collaborate more closely on the issue of children’s safety online, after launching a new online safety working group to share expertise and evidence.

The governments say that despite “near universal” smartphone ownership among UK and US teens, there is currently limited research and evidence on the causal impact that social media has on children and young people.

UK technology secretary Peter Kyle and US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo have therefore agreed to share expertise and information on the efficacy of various safety technologies, promote greater transparency among online platforms, and consider the impact of newer technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).

Once established, the joint children’s online safety working group will also consider access by researchers to privacy-preserving data on social media to better understand the impacts and risks of the digital world on young people.

“The online world brings incredible benefits for young people, enriching their education and social lives. But these experiences must take place in an environment which has been safety baked in from the outset, not as an afterthought. Delivering this goal is my priority,” said Kyle.

“The digital world has no borders and working with our international partners like the US – one of our closest allies and home to the biggest tech firms – is essential. This joint statement will turn our historic partnership towards delivering a safer online world for our next generation.”

Raimondo added: “We remain committed to combating youth online exploitation and this historic agreement will help us expand resources to support children and young people to thrive online at home and abroad.”

The US and UK have the first and second largest safety technology sectors respectively, with companies contributing over £600m to the UK economy last year according to a report from the Department or Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

It said the sector saw a 37% total revenue increase in 2023 and will hit £1bn in annual revenues by 2025/26 if the current growth rate is maintained. It also noted that since 2015, procurement data suggests the UK public sector has commissioned a total of 326 contracts in relation to “trust and safety” and online safety, with a contract value of £76m.

Key buyers include DSIT, Ofcom, the Home Office and the Department for Education, relating to both the procurement of services, products and commissioning of research.

A previous sectoral analysis by the UK government, published in May 2020, noted that the UK’s safety tech sector generated £226m in annual revenues in 2019.

In the UK, the Online Safety Act places duties on online platforms to protect children’s safety and put in place measures to mitigate risks, and requires them to proactively tackle the most harmful illegal content and activity.

This means social media companies are required to make sure their systems and processes are designed to prevent people coming into contact with illegal content, minimise how long this content is available online, and remove it as soon as possible once they become aware of it.

The UK’s online safety regulator, Ofcom, published draft online child safety rules for tech firms in May 2024, outlining how it expects internet services that children can access to carry out robust age checks, configure their algorithms to filter out the most harmful content from these children’s feeds, and implement content moderation processes that ensure swift action is taken against this content.

Meanwhile, the US government’s Kids Online Health and Safety Taskforce seeks to advance the health, safety and privacy of children online by creating and reviewing best practice guidance for industry and caregivers.

The taskforce released its first report in July 2024, detailing both the risks and benefits to younger users of social media. For industry, it recommended designing age-appropriate experiences, making privacy protections a default, improving systems to address bias and discrimination that youth experience online, and using data-driven methods to detect and prevent cyber bullying and other forms of online harassment and abuse.