Children and Online Safety – Government launches national consultation

The Government has today (2 March) launched a three-month open consultation on growing up in the online world. The consultation will focus on what measures should be adopted in the UK to improve children’s interactions with rapidly changing technology and to help ensure their safety in the online world.

The consultation aims to identify the most effective ways to support healthy online experiences for children, building on the framework established by the Online Safety Act 2023. It has been driven by growing concerns about the risks children face on social media and will consider a number of measures such as:

• a minimum age for social media use
• raising the digital age of consent (a minimum age of 13 is currently common amongst social media services)
• putting mobile phone use in schools on a statutory footing
• restrictions on technology that encourages scrolling; and
• better parental controls.

The consultation focuses on three areas:

1. New measures (e.g. age restrictions): will they assist with making the online environment safe for children
2. Enforcement: are new rules desirable or should existing rules be strengthened; and
3. Broader online ecology: how can children and parents be best supported in managing online safety at the same time as developing skills necessary for the future?

While the consultation is in progress, short pilots are being run to test certain interventions aimed at 13-15 year-olds. The pilots will include social media bans, defined limits to use of social media, and curfews.

The consultation is open to members of the public with separate surveys for:

1. parents and carers of children and young people; and
2. children and young people aged between 10 and 21.

The consultation ends on 26 May 2026. Decisions are likely to be made and implemented swiftly since the Government’s announcement on 16 February 2026 of the introduction of new powers to ensure legislation following the consultation could be enacted quickly without the need for new primary legislation.

The outcome of the consultation could well see apps and social media platforms being made responsible (and therefore held accountable) for the online safety of the UK’s children. Ofcom is likely to be required to implement any regulatory changes.

Protecting children from harmful content at the same time as ensuring they have the digital skills necessary to effectively use online platforms in our increasingly technology-reliant world will be no easy task. The resulting changes to children’s online usage as a result of the consultation and subsequent legislation remain to be seen, however, significant changes to children’s online interactions is a likely outcome. The consultation also begs the question as to what can and should be done to protect the online safety of other vulnerable groups not currently protected by the Online Safety Act 2023.

The Hamlins Reputation and Privacy team is widely recognised as an advisor of choice for both individuals and businesses seeking advice in relation to reputation management, including complaints in defamation and privacy law, and in cases involving print and digital media.