Salford cyber expert warns parents parents about the risks their children still face online
It's despite Government intervention
An 'Online Harms Consultant' is warning parents about the risks their children still face online despite government intervention.
It comes as new research reveals 8 in 10 children believe social media negatively impacts their physical and emotional health, yet they feel powerless to stop it.
Dr Catherine Knibbs is also a Psychotherapist with a PhD in Cyber Trauma from the University of Salford, she's warning parents just days after the government announced urgent action to toughen the Online Safety Act.
Stricter legal requirements are being now being pushed onto tech companies to hunt down and remove material that encourages or assists serious self-harm.
New figures, conducted after the introduction of illegal content rules this year, also show 72% of UK children have seen content in the past month that made them feel uncomfortable, upset, sad, or angry.
While parents often fear explicit material when it comes to their children being online, Dr Catherine says the real damage comes from something much subtler, called 'longitudinal overexposure', a term which relates to the relentless drip-feed of toxic narratives, shaping how children see themselves and the world.
Dr Catherine said: "The exposure is repetitive, it's algorithmically driven, it's content that can be upsetting to children in many different ages.
"Children are concerned by content, children are concerned by what they're interacting with and not always being able to have the conversations with their parents.
"Tech companies haven't made any changes on those algorithms so it might be an accidental interaction, it might be an interaction when somebody sent them some content, or content that they purposely sought out...
"What happens then is that content is maximised and driven towards them and means they're likely to see more of it.
"The more you interact with something that is detrimental to your wellbeing, that really can have an impact on children's welfare, their ability to critically think about what they're seeing in the world or even influence how they talk to each other, talk to adults, or don't talk."
According to the new research by Sway.ly. harmful content children report most includes fake news (24%), hate (23%), violence (22%), body image pressure (22%), over-sexualised content (20%).
As part of the Online Safety Act, platforms have a legal duty to protect children online. Platforms are now required to use highly effective age assurance to prevent children from accessing pornography, or content which encourages self-harm, suicide or eating disorder content.
Platforms must also prevent children from accessing other harmful and age-inappropriate content such as bullying, hateful content and content which encourages dangerous stunts or ingesting dangerous substances. Platforms must also provide parents and children with clear and accessible ways to report problems online when they do arise.