Cristina Criddle and John Carr discuss new Ofcom rules for online safety, balancing tech benefits and risks for kids, parents' concerns about harmful content, and challenges in enforcing regulations on social media platforms to protect children.
Ofcom emphasizes age verification and algorithm monitoring to protect children online.
Algorithm personalization on social media may lead to exposure of harmful content to children.
Deep dives
Ofcom's Online Safety Act and Guidance for Tech Companies
Ofcom has outlined expectations for tech companies in the context of the Online Safety Act, emphasizing measures like age verification and algorithm monitoring to prevent exposing children to harmful content. The guidance underscores the focus on ensuring children are not exposed to any damaging material and highlights the need for companies to conduct risk assessments on their algorithms.
Challenges with Alarming Algorithms on Social Media Platforms
Social media platforms utilize algorithms to personalize content exposure, which can lead to the promotion of harmful material, even to children. The algorithms learn and adapt based on user behavior, potentially leading to the escalation of harmful content exposure, especially for vulnerable demographics like teenagers.
Parental Responsibility and Tech Regulation for Child Safety
Parents are advised to actively engage in monitoring their children's online activities to mitigate exposure to harmful content. While tech companies have begun implementing safety measures, the new legislation enforces stricter compliance standards, including criminal sanctions for non-compliance. The evolving landscape of online safety underscores the shared responsibility between parents, tech firms, and regulators in safeguarding children online.
The UK media regulator has set out new rules for social media companies designed to keep children safe online.
The new Ofcom rules include age verification and reformulating algorithms to keep children away from "toxic" content. But parents whose children have died as a result of exposure to harmful content have called the rules an "insult".
On the Sky News Daily Niall Paterson is joined by technology correspondent at the Financial Times Cristina Criddle to discuss what the measures are and how they can be delivered.
Niall is also joined by John Carr, who is on the government's principal advisory body for online safety and security for children, to discuss the challenges of enforcing the rules and if they go far enough to protect children.
Producers: Soila Apparicio, Emma Rae Woodhouse Promotions producer: David Chipakupaku Editor: Paul Stanworth
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