United Kingdom
5Rights leads innovation in digital policy, ensuring children and young people in the UK feel safe and empowered online.
Overview
The UK, where 5Rights was founded, has pioneered digital regulation for children. It introduced the world’s first enforceable Age Appropriate Design Code in 2020, followed by the Online Safety Act in 2023, making it a key testing ground for policy innovation and implementation.
“A perfect digital world should be focused on online safety of the content. Every child should be informed about the type of content before they access it”
William, 15
Children’s experiences
Almost all 3-17-year-olds go online in the UK, mostly to watch videos, play video games, send messages to their friends and stay connected via social media. Nearly half of 11-year-olds who go online have a social media profile, despite a minimum age requirement of 13 for most social media sites. While watching videos, children are exposed to many advertisements and encouraged to spend cash as they are playing online games. Grooming cases and self-generated child sexual imagery are also on the rise, especially for younger children. 5Rights works hard to advocate that digital spaces likely to be accessed by children provide them with content and experiences appropriate to their age and evolving capacities.
Our work in the UK
5Rights works closely with policy makers and regulators and leads the work of the Children’s Coalition for Online Safety. We also partner with Bereaved Families for Online Safety to keep children’s online safety at the forefront of the political agenda. In partnership with the London School of Economics, 5Rights launched the Digital Futures for Children centre, dedicated to researching a rights-respecting digital world for children.
In focus
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UK Online Safety Act takes effect as tech industry keeps shifting blame to parents
As the Illegal Harms Code of Practice enters into force, 5Rights urges Ofcom to begin robust enforcement and hold tech firms accountable.
UK Government’s AI ‘free for all’ harms children’s intellectual property
Proposed changes to UK copyright law leave children’s intellectual property vulnerable to exploitation from AI companies– if children can’t copy homework, why can AI copy them?
TikTok, Reddit and Imgur investigated for UK Age Appropriate Design Code breach
The UK’s data regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office, has launched investigations under the Age Appropriate Design Code– marking a positive step forward for children’s data protection, but more is needed.
UK bolsters legal basis of Age Appropriate Design Code
In a major win for 5Rights, the UK Government has introduced a legal requirement for online services to consider children’s rights and needs when processing their data, by design and default. This move emboldens the Age Appropriate Design Code, strengthening protections to children’s data.