The Kids are Online: Research-Driven Insights on Child Safety Policy
Executive Summary
This report summarizes the key discussions and insights from an in-person symposium held in September 2024 on the topic of children’s online safety policy. The event convened academic researchers, policy experts, and civil society representatives to explore research-driven approaches to addressing critical issues impacting young users in digital environments. During the symposium, we attempted to foster meaningful dialogue, identify areas of consensus and disagreement, and chart actionable paths forward. The symposium included a range of perspectives, and thus the report reflects a synthesis of ideas rather than unanimous agreement.
The symposium brought together 23 participants for a day-long event conducted under the Chatham House Rule. Attendees engaged in two rounds of thematic roundtables covering four key topics related to child safety on online platforms: Connection, Content, Communication, and Characteristics. The event concluded with an all-participant session that summarized some of the main discussions and identified strategies and opportunities to integrate research into policy.
We lay out some of the cross-cutting themes that we have identified in conversation; these highlight the interconnectedness of issues surrounding youth safety online, and emphasize the need for evidence-based and youth-centric approaches, particularly along the following lines:
- No one-size-fits-all approach fixes current issues. Researchers pointed to a range of ways for keeping young people safe online, yet most solutions raise thorny tradeoffs.
- Experiences of all youth online should be examined, including those with different backgrounds. Participants repeatedly raised that young users experience online environments differently based on factors like age, socioeconomic status, and identity. Tailored safety measures, they note, may be essential to address these varied experiences effectively. Some said that additional aspects like access and digital literacy require further consideration of tools that accommodate diverse user needs.
- Consider the ecosystem of actors who are part of a young person’s life holistically. The discussions emphasized adopting a more holistic and collaborative approach to online child safety. Participants underscored the necessity of collective efforts that would involve parents, educators, platform designers, and policymakers. Collaboration across these groups was identified as crucial for reaching feasible and balanced actionable steps.
- Limited researcher access to data impedes evidence-informed solutions. Researchers in the group agreed that a lack of access to comprehensive data impedes fully understanding online harms and prevents learning about the effectiveness of existing safety measures implemented by digital platforms. Most agreed that improved access to data is vital to develop evidence-informed policy.
Participants also proposed several practical steps with potential to enhance online safety for young people on digital platforms:
- Establish default protections. Participants agreed that implementing safety settings by default, such as private accounts, can potentially keep young users and all users safer.
- Empower users with the ability to customize their online experiences. According to participants, equipping youth — and all users — with features like customizable content filters and algorithm reset options could give them the reins to shape their own experiences online.
- Provide researchers with privacy-preserving mechanisms to access data. Participants emphasized the importance of providing researchers with access to platform data, especially data related to safety mechanisms (e.g., the rate of users who use safety tools or how these tools are being used). They noted that this would allow researchers to better study online experiences and evaluate the effectiveness of safety measures.
- Support digital literacy and onboarding. Participants recommended platforms to work towards supporting users’ development of skills to navigate digital spaces responsible, as opposed to restricting access to young users altogether. Leveraging peer-to-peer education, more collaborative onboarding processes, and norm setting can all help acquaint young users with improving online norms and safety practices.
The conversation underscored the complexity of creating safer online environments and the importance of engaging researchers, who can share data-driven knowledge on approaches that have the potential to work. Participants emphasized the need for ongoing dialogue and actionable processes — safer digital spaces require sustained efforts to bridge gaps between research, policy, and platform design. This report serves as a step towards creating this shared space that would support the creation of safer digital environments for young users while respecting their rights and agency.
