Young people need to report harmful online content, the communications monitoring body said after finding that two-thirds had encountered potential harm on social media, but only one in six reported it.
Ofcom found that 67% of people between the ages of 13 and 24 have seen potentially harmful content online, although only 17% report it. The regulator is tasked with imposing measures in the upcoming online safety bill, which will require social media companies to protect children and adults from online harm.
The most common potential harm encountered online is offensive or bad language (28%), according to respondents in the Ofcom Online Nation 2022 report, followed by: misinformation (23%); fraud, fraud and phishing (22%); unwanted friend or following requests (21%) and trolling (17%). Another 14% have experienced harassment, abusive behavior and threats online.
Ofcom launched a campaign with influential TikTok Lewis Lee, who became famous during the blockade by posting videos of her grandmother’s dance moves. The Samo Nans campaign will encourage young people to report harmful content they see on social media.
The campaign is also supported by Joe Hemmings, a behavioral psychologist. She said: “People react very differently when they see something harmful in real life – report it to the police or ask for help from a friend, parent or guardian – but often take very little action when they see the same thing in the virtual world.”
TikTok has removed more than 85 million pieces of content in the last three months of last year, with nearly 5% of that total coming from user recommendations. Instagram removed more than 43 million pieces of content during the same period, of which more than 6% came from users reporting or tagging content.
Anna-Sophie Harling, Ofcom’s online safety director, said: “Our campaign is designed to enable young people to report harmful content when they see it, and we are ready to hold technology companies accountable for how effectively they respond. .
The online safety bill is expected to become law by the end of the year. Ofcom will have the power to impose fines of £ 18 million or 10% of the company’s global turnover for breaches of the law, which imposes a duty of care on technology companies to protect people from harmful consumer-generated content. One of the specific mandates in the bill is to ensure that children are not exposed to harmful or inappropriate content.
Andy Burroughs, head of the NSPCC’s online child safety policy, who called for the bill to be strengthened, said: “This report reveals how young people are at increased risk of encountering harmful content but feel unsupported in social media. media and either I don’t know how to report or I feel that the platforms just won’t take action when they do. “
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