Children first see 'unavoidable' violent content at primary school, says Ofcom
Children first see violent online content at primary school and believe it is "unavoidable", according to an Ofcom study.
All 247 children who the watchdog spoke to said they had seen things such as adult-only video game content, fighting and verbal discrimination.
Social media and group chats were the most common way they came across the content, and many said they had seen it when they were below the sites' minimum age.
The sharing of videos showing school fights was normal for many children, according to the study.
Others said they had seen more extreme violence - involving gangs for example - but far less often.
Some 10 to 14-year-olds said they felt pressure to watch violent content and find it "funny" and feared being isolated if they didn't.
Ofcom said teenage boys were the most likely to share such videos, and often did so to become more popular by attracting comments or likes - or simply to "fit in".
Some children said they came across violence via strangers' posts on their newsfeed or via what they called "the algorithm".
Many felt they had little control over it and sometimes felt upset, scared or anxious.
Campaigners have long been pushing for social media companies to do much more to prevent children from seeing harmful content.
The Online Safety Act - which was passed last year - requires providers of online services to minimise the extent of illegal and harmful content.
However, a parliamentary committee said last month that the benefit may not be felt for some time as full implementation of the law had been delayed until 2026.
Reacting to the recent studies, Ofcom's online safety group director, Gill Whitehead, said: "Children should not feel that seriously harmful content - including material depicting violence or promoting self-injury - is an inevitable or unavoidable part of their lives online.
"Today's research sends a powerful message to tech firms that now is the time to act so they're ready to meet their child protection duties under new online safety laws.
Source: https://news.sky.com/story/children-first-see-unavoidable-violent-content-at-primary-school-says-ofcom-13094615 |