New research reveals children as young as 5-7 years-old are increasingly present online, with up to a third using social media unsupervised.
And a growing number of these children have personal profiles, says the study from Ofcom on children’s relationships with the media and online worlds.
Andy Burrows, an advisor for the Molly Rose Foundation (MRF) said: “This research shows a startling amount of primary school-aged children are going online to access high-risk social networks and live-streamed content.
“The findings underscore that social media platforms are utterly failing to enforce their minimum age policies and the regulator must be prepared to crack down on platforms that turn a blind eye.”
The annual study also found that around a quarter of 5-7 year-olds (24%) now own a smartphone, while three-quarters (76%) use a tablet.
Compared to a year ago, a higher proportion of 5-7s go online to send messages or make voice/ video calls (from 59% to 65%) or to watch live-streamed content (39% to 50%).
Similarly, overall use of social media sites or apps among the same age group has increased year-on-year (from 30% to 38%) with WhatsApp (29% to 37%), TikTok (25% to 30%), Instagram (14% to 22%) and Discord (2% to 4%).
Burrows added: “Ofcom already has powers to regulate TikTok for breaches of children’s safety, and with one-third of children aged 5-7 now using the app, there is a compelling case for the regulator to take action.”
Today’s research comes as Ofcom prepares to consult in the coming weeks on a comprehensive set of proposals to ensure children are better protected online. Additionally, the regulator announced it is planning an additional consultation later this year on how automated tools, including AI, can be used to proactively detect illegal content and content most harmful to children – including previously undetected child sexual abuse material.
While around two in five parents of 5-7 year-olds (42%) say they use social media sites and apps together with their child, a third (32%) report that their child uses social media independently.
Compared to last year, parents of these younger children are more likely to say they would allow their child to have a profile on social media services before they had reached the minimum age required (30%, up from 25%).
Three-quarters of parents of children aged 5-7 who go online say they have talked to their child about staying safe online (76%), and over half do so at least every few weeks (56%). Parents of older children who go online (those aged 8-17) are more likely to have ever had online safety conversations with their child (over 90% of parents of children in each age band).
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