Rutland Police & Crime Commissioner 'not against' social media ban for children
New research shows the majority of parents are finding it increasingly difficult to protect their children online
Last updated 6th Feb 2024
Leicestershire and Rutland's Police and Crime Commissioner Rupert Matthews has said he's 'not against' a complete ban on social media for under 16-year-olds.
As part of Safer Internet Day (February 6th), research from Apple reveals only 1 in 4 parents have sat down with their child to educate them on how to behave and be safe online.
It shows 41% of parents monitor their child’s screen time, but aren’t always aware of what they are viewing, while just 3 in 10 have implemented safeguards on their child's device.
Separate research by Vodaphone, in partnership with the NSPCC and Global Action Plan, found that 6 in 10 boys aged 11-14 have been exposed to harmful online content.
The majority (59%) of that group accessed content pushing misogyny (69%) or violence (79%) through innocent or unrelated searches.
10% were presented with harmful content within 60 seconds of going online.
PCC Rupert Matthews said:
'As more and more teenagers get access to the internet, the more and more likely they are to come across this stuff.'
'The difficulty, of course, is trying to limit teenager's access to the internet.'
'I've got children myself, so we do what we can as parents, but for the Government to try and get to grips with this, that is equally difficult.'
'A lot of this is going to come down to education of children and young people.'
On the idea of social media being restricted to under 16-year-olds, PCC Matthews said:
'The problem you'd have is trying to enforce it. How do you differentiate between someone who is 15 and someone who is 16 when logging on?'
'I wouldn't be opposed to it completely.'
'How on Earth you could enforce that, I really don't know. If they think they've got a way to do it, I'd be really interested to see it.'