Online Child Safety

The online safety of young people is a priority for policy influencers around the world, with 37% viewing it as a priority for new regulation. But there's no clear consensus on who should take responsibility for protecting young people online, with sharp differences between key markets and jurisdictions.

The policy objective of keeping young people safe online is impossible to object to, but the mechanics of achieving it are not always straightforward and inevitably require trade-offs and compromises between other competing - and legitimate - policy and commercial objectives.

Baker McKenzie and Milltown Partners have jointly produced a report outlining regulatory approaches towards young people's safety online in different markets around the world, capturing global trends and exploring regional variations. The aim of the 'Online child safety: an opportunity to get it right' report is to provide tech companies operating in this space with information on current stakeholder attitudes, an understanding of the direction of policy and regulation travel, and practical advice on how to navigate an often high-stakes issue successfully.

Using data captured by interviewing over 1,000 tech policy professionals and tech policy experts across Australia, Germany, India, South Korea, the UK and USA, this report analyses the:

1. Prioritisation of young people's online safety vs other key issues online
2. Perceptions of young people's usage and safety of different online platforms
3. Perceptions of existing efforts to keep young people safe online from technology companies and governments
4. Prioritisation of different potential dangers faced by young people online
5. Levels of support for different specific potential measures designed to keep young people safe online
6. Preferences around specific perceived trade-offs regarding young people's safety online - including privacy and safety