With more people than ever working from home and many
children using the internet for education and
entertainment, there are increased risks of exposure to
online harms such as cyberbullying and disinformation.
To combat this, today’s guidance sets out a four-point plan
and recommends reviewing security and safety settings,
checking facts and guarding against disinformation, being
vigilant against fraud and scams, and managing the amount
of time spent online.
It follows a virtual roundtable held yesterday (Wednesday
22 April) by the Minister for Digital and Culture,
, the Security
Minister, , and child safety
organisations to assess the impact of coronavirus on child
online safety and bolster ways of working together to
protect children online.
Minister for Digital and Culture said:
Staying at home in order to protect the NHS and save
lives means we are spending more time online. This means
we must all be extra vigilant, follow good security
practice and make sure our children are safe too. It’s
also important that we check the facts behind what we
read and remember to take regular breaks.
We are completely committed to making the UK the safest
place to be online, and that’s why we have brought
together a wealth of practical advice which I urge
parents to use and share with their children.
Security Minister said:
The safety of children online is of the upmost
importance. That’s why our law enforcement continue to
pursue predators and bring them to justice.
We also want to empower adults to use all the guidance
and advice available to help them keep children safe from
all forms of online harms, including child sexual abuse.
As well as offering advice on security settings,
fact-checking and protecting against fraud, the new
guidance encourages people to consider the impact screen
use is having on their wellbeing.
With more parents looking after and educating children from
home, the guidance has tailored advice for parents to keep
their children safe online.
This includes using parental controls to manage what
children can access, switching on family filters to protect
children from inappropriate content, and having
conversations with children to encourage them to speak to a
trusted adult if they come across anything online that
makes them uncomfortable.
UK Safer Internet Centre Director and Childnet CEO, Will
Gardner, saId:
Technology has proved to be enormously important in these
unprecedented times. We know that children are
benefitting hugely from being connected, but we also know
it’s even more important that we take steps to keep them
safe and happy whilst online.
That’s why we welcome guidance which brings together
practical and simple advice for families in this
difficult period.
The government continues to develop legislation to make the
UK the safest place in the world to be online, and will
introduce this once Parliamentary time allows.
In February the government announced it was minded to
appoint communications watchdog Ofcom as the regulator to
enforce a statutory duty of care to protect users from
harmful content.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
-
The guidance can be found at:
www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-staying-safe-online
-
The guidance points to a number of existing resources
from organisations such as Full Fact for checking
claims about COVID-19, safety advice from the National
Crime Agency, Internet Matters, the UK Safer Internet
Centre and Childline, as well as tools for managing
family screen time, such as Apple’s Screen Time feature
and Google’s Family Link.
-
The following organisations attended a virtual
roundtable co-hosted by the Minister for Digital and
Culture and the Security Minister to discuss online
safety during Covid-19: Barnardo’s, Internet Watch
Foundation, NSPCC, ParentZone, Samaritans, UK Safer
Internet Centre
