5Rights

5Rights takes the existing rights of children and young people (under 18), and articulates them for the digital world. We believe that they should be supported to access digital technologies creatively, knowledgeably and fearlessly.

The Age Appropriate Design Code: “A new deal between children and the tech sector”

April 2019

The Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham CBE, has now launched a draft of the Age Appropriate Design Code for consultation. The consultation is open until Friday 31st May.

The Age Appropriate Design Code is the first of its kind anywhere in the world and sets out the specific protections that children require for their data. It will redress the balance between the needs and safety of children and the commercial interests of online services.

5Rights welcomes Online Harms White Paper, calls for swifter legislation

April 2019

The issues are so serious and the failure of the tech sector to self-regulate so profound that it is incumbent on government to fast track legislation. We welcome the duty of care, we welcome enforceable terms and conditions - which 5Rights has spent years campaigning for - and we welcome stronger powers to sanction by an independent regulator. But we need all of it swiftly, robustly and uncompromisingly.

The real litmus test for this White Paper is whether it results in effective and enforceable legislation, sooner rather than later.

Read our response

5Rights Foundation: Towards an Internet Safety Strategy

January 2019

The inventors of the digital world imagined an environment in which all users would be equal, but in fact, 1/3rd of users globally and 1/5th of users in the UK are children; children who are growing up in an environment that systematically fails to recognise their age, meet their needs or uphold their rights.

In this paper, 5Rights Foundation proposes seven pillars upon which the Government’s Internet Safety Strategy could be built: parity of protection, design standards, accountability, enforcement, leadership, education and evidence-based interventions, in order to make a digital world fit for children and childhood.

Read our report

A child is a child until they reach maturity, not until they pick up a smartphone

At 5Rights, we work to support children and young people as they explore, play, learn and grow in the digital environment. We do this by:

giving children a voice to articulate their needs and to meaningfully shape their digital environment.
collaborating with designers, computer scientists, child development experts, user experience engineers, and academics to develop prototypes that show how the digital environment can be redesigned in children’s ‘best interests’.
publishing research to build and disseminate evidence on how best to meet children’s development needs online.
sharing knowledge to ensure that those with responsibility for children, including teachers, parents, social workers and policy-makers make informed decisions.
developing a digital literacy framework that tackles questions of motivation, citizenship and digital engagement, alongside discussions of ‘21st century’ skills necessary to flourish in the digital environment.
building a consensus on the need for a global governance structure that would establish universal standards of age-appropriate design online.

The 5Rights Framework articulates the rights and commonly held principles enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child (UNCRC) for the digital world. Rights that protect them from commercial exploitation, offer the highest standards in wellbeing and education. Rights that protect them from violence and harm, and give them privacy.

The demand to create a better digital environment for young people is often synonymous with a call to curtail access. 5Rights does not support this view. We welcome the rapid growth of the digital environment but work to ensure that it meets the needs of young people.

What we do

The Age Appropriate Design Code: "A new deal between children and the tech sector"

5Rights welcomes Online Harms White Paper, calls for swifter legislation

BLOG: 5Rights' work with childen

Working with the Government of Rwanda and Police Scotland to support children online

House of Lords Select Committee on Communications Publish Report ‘Regulating in a Digital World’

UNCRC General Comment on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment

UN human rights expert starts ‘privacy and children’ consultation

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

April 2019

Social media firms barred from using 'addictive' features to keep children online in new legal code

The Telegraph

April 2019

View All Signatories

The Age Appropriate Design Code: “A new deal between children and the tech sector”

5Rights welcomes Online Harms White Paper, calls for swifter legislation

5Rights Foundation: Towards an Internet Safety Strategy

A child is a child until they reach maturity, not until they pick up a smartphone

What we do

The Age Appropriate Design Code: "A new deal between children and the tech sector"

5Rights welcomes Online Harms White Paper, calls for swifter legislation

BLOG: 5Rights' work with childen

Working with the Government of Rwanda and Police Scotland to support children online

House of Lords Select Committee on Communications Publish Report ‘Regulating in a Digital World’

UNCRC General Comment on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment

In the news

UN human rights expert starts ‘privacy and children’ consultation

Social media firms barred from using 'addictive' features to keep children online in new legal code