Yahoo Finance Thirteen may be too young for social media, online watchdog warns
Thirteen may be too young for children to use social media apps where they risk being exposed to "self-harm and extreme dieting" material, the UK's online watchdog has warned.
Elizabeth Denham, the Information Commissioner, said the "internet was not designed for children" and that society was yet to make sure they have the same protections online as in the real world.
Her comments come as the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is due to get new powers later this year to fine tech companies billions if they misuse children's personal data or allow them onto age-restricted websites.
Ms Denham also warned that the Government would need to gain the "trust" of the public if it is going to make sensitive schemes such as vaccine passports work.
In a speech at Oxford University on Wednesday, the Information Commissioner said the 13 age limit on most social media sites was a result of US data laws rather than any consideration about what age children should use such apps.
She said: "Does that seem sensible? But then the question gets more complex. What if someone's news feed is increasingly pushing them in the direction of content about self-harm or extreme dieting?
"The internet was not designed for children, but we know the benefits of children going online. We have protections and rules for kids in the offline world – but they haven't been translated to the online world."
Ms Denham added that the issue had become a "wicked, complex" one that would only start to be answered when the UK's first online children's safety law, the Age Appropriate Design Code, came into force in September.
However, while the code gives the ICO powers to fine companies that allow underage children onto their apps, social media giants will still be the ones who decide the age limit.
The Government is also currently drawing up duty of care laws, which The Telegraph campaigned for since 2018, that could see tech giants fined or even banned from the UK if children are exposed to harmful material on their platforms.
Meanwhile, Ms Denham, whose term as commissioner comes to an end later this year, said she had witnessed a dramatic shift in types of sensitive information people are happy handing over to the Government during the Covid pandemic.
She cited the NHS Covid-19 app, which anonymously keeps a log of who users have come into close contact with to then alert them if someone comes down with the virus, and said: "Who, listening today, if asked last February, would have downloaded an app operated by the state that tracked who you had been in proximity with?
"But faced with the challenges of a global pandemic – and given the reassurances around privacy – the app was downloaded more than 21 million times."
Ms Denham said the app had worked because the public trusted that their data would not be hoovered up by the Government as it instead remains stored on their phones.
She warned that a similar effort to minimise the collection of personal information would need to be made with plans for future vaccine passports, which have been mooted for people travelling abroad or to public events.
"The only way to reach a solution that can encourage public trust is to engage the public, to speak to the individuals whose data is being used," she added.
