A toddler crying in a restaurant. A fidgety child on a long drive. A pre-teen that finds themself bored at home while parents are finishing up business calls. For many parents, the solution is simple: Give them their phone and allow them access to TikTok or YouTube. However, UK communications regulator Ofcom has issued a recently released significant warning to parents about this practice.
Ofcom has now published their latest research findings, which state that both TikTok and YouTube, in spite of years’ worth of assurances from these companies that stronger protections would be implemented, are still not “safe enough” for children to use. According to Ofcom, an algorithmically driven recommendation feed of videos is the most common source for children to have had exposure to harmful material online, and their statistics are strikingly high.
According to Ofcom’s research, 73% of children in the UK between 11 and 17 had accessed some form of harmful content online in just a single month, and 84% of children between 8 and 12 years old are using platforms that are intended for people age 13 and up.
So, the question parents need to ask now is no longer “Is screen time excessive?” The question has transitioned to “What kind of content do children bother watching when we aren’t around to monitor?”
The Real Problem Isn’t Just the Apps – It’s the Algorithm
Many parents view TikTok and YouTube as simply platforms that provide entertainment through, funny videos, DIY hacks, cartoons, gaming and dance challenges. The concern for regulators is not what is on the platform but rather how they are designed.
TikTok and YouTube rely on vast recommendation algorithms that consistently track what users do on both platforms; they analyze things like what kids are pausing on, replaying, liking and searching for or hovering mouse over for a few seconds, and then continuing to offer more and more binge-worthy and engaging material. According to Ofcom, these “personalised feeds” represent the primary way in which children find material with harmful content online.
This can include the following types of material:
Content related to eating disorders
Violent, graphic, & sexualised material
Dangerous “challenges” or trends
Discussions regarding self-harm
Extremist or misogynistic views
Cyberbullying
The concern is especially acute for children under the age of 13, as they continue to develop their impulse control, emotional regulation, and ability to assess risk.
Why Experts Say Younger Children Are Especially Vulnerable
Digital safety experts and child psychologists have been advising that younger people do not have the ability to distinguish between manipulation and entertainment on the internet for many years.
Children do not have the same ability that adults do to recognise things as:
Patterns of addictive designs,
Emotionally manipulative material,
False information,
or algorithmically amplified content.
Research is showing that repeated exposure to quick and intense content may have an impact on a child’s ability to focus, sleep well, feel anxious, or feel good about themselves. The “rabbit hole effect” is a new cause for concern. A child may start by watching normal football clips or cosmetic tutorials. However, the algorithm may find that stronger engagement is created by extreme, sensationalised, or emotionally charged content, and, quickly shows the child these negative videos.
In addition, studies referenced by Digital Safety advocates are indicating that a user will be guided to harmful content only minutes after opening or activating any application with a recommendation system.
“But My Child Only Watches Cartoons on YouTube” – That May Not Matter
Many parents believe that they can rely only upon the existence of YouTube Kid’s accounts or supervised accounts for sufficient protection. However, enforcement continues to remain weak.
Regulators have also expressed their dissatisfaction with TikTok and YouTube (both owned by Google) for not doing enough to ensure that their recommendation feeds are safe as there is now a growing body of evidence demonstrating that these feeds are contributing to children being exposed to violence and/or sexual abuse.
Meanwhile, other platforms such as Snap, Meta and Roblox have reportedly accepted to create and enforce stricter protocols in regards to:
Better parental controls;
Better age verification; and
Tougher anti-grooming procedures.
TikTok and YouTube claimed they have spent a lot of money on systems which improve child safety, however, Ofcom’s position was quite clear: the current protections that exist are insufficient.
The Data Parents Cannot Ignore
If we look closer at the general trends concerning children and mobile phones, we can see that the data indicates a much bleaker situation for children than we did previously. On a global scale, children and teenagers use Youtube as their predominant form of entertainment, while Tiktok is their primary form of entertainment, simply due to the addictive nature of short videos.
Here are just some of the reported trends:
Children are getting smartphones at younger ages than ever before.
Teenagers are spending more time than ever on screens every day, on average.
The use of short-form video platforms has caused teenagers’ attention spans to significantly decline and has created a compulsive need to scroll on social media.
Teenagers are not getting enough sleep due to the late-night use of devices.
Another issue identified in the Ofcom Report is that there is a large disconnect between platform guidelines for children and the actual use of these platforms by children. Most social media platforms have rules against allowing children under the age of 13 to use their services; however, Ofcom has found that the vast majority of 8- to 12-year-old children are using social media when they should not be. This goes to show the extent that age restrictions currently only exist as an administrative formality.
Why Governments Around the World Are Starting to Panic
The UK is no longer alone. Many countries around the world are now considering whether governments should be enforcing stricter legal obligations on social media companies to protect their users (especially children) from being harmed by social media use.
In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer is pushing for additional regulations and several discussions around a possible restriction of children under 16 from using social media platforms, similar to what is taking place in Australia. Also, campaign groups are demanding that tech companies are required to demonstrate that their apps are safe for children prior to providing
The conversation is changing dramatically. Rather than having parents be fully responsible, regulators are increasingly looking towards tech companies to redesign their platforms.
Parents are tired, and more than one-ever have turned to cell phones as a modern-day solution for childrearing. Parents can use YouTube videos for a “quiet minute” in their office during meetings. TikTok is great for keeping kids busy while preparing dinner. Tablets can assist parents in preventing kids from throwing tantrums in public.
However, according to Ofcom, by giving their children a device, parents may also be giving control of their children’s viewing habits to algorithms that are programmed to distract their child’s attention. Not every child who uses YouTube or TikTok is in grave danger at this moment. Nonetheless, regulators are publicly asserting that the technologies themselves are not yet safe.
For many children, this may raise a very difficult question for families:
Are we willing to trade a few seconds of quiet for our children’s long-term well-being?
Sources: The News International, BBC, and Reuters.
