Parents again cinema-style age rankings on social media content material to guard children
More than eight in 10 parents said they wanted tech giants to team up with classifiers to put age limits on online videos, flagging up violence, bad language and sexual themes
Parents have expressed alarm at what their children are watching online
Parents want to see cinema-style age ratings slapped on social media content to protect kids, a survey finds.
More than eight in 10 said they wanted tech giants to team up with classifiers to put age limits on online videos, flagging up violence, bad language and sexual themes. In a poll of 2,000 parents with children aged 12 to 17, more than half said harmful or inappropriate content was their number one concern for their child’s wellbeing.
Nearly three-quarters said they would be more likely to let their child use social media if its content was moderated in that way. Almost nine in 10 of parents with a child aged between 12 and 14 said they would feel more comfortable with them using social media if they knew the content they could see did not exceed what would be allowed in a 12A-rated film.
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Of parents of children aged 15-17, eight in 10 said they would feel more comfortable if the content they could access did not exceed what would be allowed in a 15-rated film.
A fifth of parents reported their child spends more than 40 hours online, while the average was 17 hours and 35 minutes.
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has written to Tech Secretary Liz Kendall to call for more action to ensure content is age-appropriate. In an open letter signed by campaigners, including the Molly Rose Foundation and the NSPCC, they said: “A 13-year-old cannot watch an 18-rated film in a cinema, yet they can easily access harmful and illegal content online.”
The BBFC consults thousands of people in the UK every four to five years over its classification guidelines for films and TV series, a strategy that could be applied to social media companies, campaigners believe.
David Austin, chief executive of the BBFC, described the findings as a “wake-up call for the industry”. “The BBFC has spent decades consulting with the public to establish what is appropriate for children to see on-screen as they grow up,” he said.
“We have the expertise and experience to help, and stand ready to work with social platforms to ensure that the high standards parents expect offline are delivered online.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said: “Parents across the country are grappling with their children’s screen time and what they are seeing online. Ministers have been engaging directly with them to understand their experiences and inform our next steps.
“We already have laws to require that platforms prevent access to the most harmful content, but we are considering further measures with our consultation – from age restrictions and screentime curfews to safer design features and limiting addictive algorithms. This isn’t a question of whether we will act, but how.”
:: The survey was conducted by OnePoll for the BBFC between March 17 and 23 ::
