New tech? No problem: Help to keep your kids safe online at Christmas

Keeping an eye on online safety this Christmas

This Christmas, many children will be opening up new tech gifts and spending more of their time online, with schools closed for the festive season.

Big gifts like smartphones, games consoles and tablets are often high on kids' Christmas lists, and amid the excitement it's worth remembering that for some children, these devices will give them their first opportunities to get online.

So, it's important to consider how they can stay safe when they're finding their feet in the online world.

What's in place to keep children safer

As the UK's online safety regulator helping children live safer lives online is a real priority for us. Online safety rules are already in force and offer protections for children, making online services responsible for ensuring sites, platforms and apps are safer for the children who use them.

This means they have to assess the risk of content that's illegal or harmful to children being on their platform, and take action to protect people from it. Here are some of the things sites and apps will need to do under our rules:

• Have age checks in place to make sure children are protected from accessing the most harmful content, which includes pornography, eating disorder, suicide and self-harm material.
• Make sure their algorithms don't recommend harmful content in children's feeds. Algorithms must be configured to filter out the most harmful content from children's feeds,such as misogynistic, violent, hateful or abusive material, online bullying and dangerous challenges. They must also reduce the visibility and prominence of other harmful content. Children must also be able to provide negative feedback directly, so the algorithm can learn what content they don't want to see.
• Provide supportive information for children who report or post about harmful content.
• Give children more control over their online experience. Children should be able to indicate what content they don't like, to accept or decline group chat invitations, and to block and mute accounts and disable comments on their own posts.
• Have moderation processes in place to take steps on harmful content when it's reported. They also need to have a complaints procedure and a named person in place who is responsible for child safety.

What else can you do?

As well as these measures, parents and carers play a vital role in helping children stay safe online. Here are some of the things you can do, whether your child is switching on their very first phone, or simply spending more time online over the school holidays.

• Talk about online safety early. Before a new device or game is switched on, have a simple conversation about staying safe online. Let children know they can come to you if something makes them feel uncomfortable, confused or worried.
• Put parental controls in place. You can do this on individual devices or on your home broadband, and it helps to make sure children aren't doing things or accessing content that is potentially harmful or unsuitable for their age. It can also help to prevent them from making in-game or online purchases you're not aware of.
• Make sure they're using age-appropriate apps. Many social media apps have minimum age requirements. Some children might be tempted to use a false age to sign up to an app - if they do this, they may be exposed to content or features not suitable for their actual age.
• Set screentime limits. Most devices enable you to put screentime limits in place - this can either be done in the devices operating system, or on individual apps or programmes.
• Be aware of in-game chat and live features. Some games include live chat, voice chat or the ability to interact with strangers online. You may want to turn these features off for younger children, or agree clear rules about when and how they can be used. Also look out for video game age ratings. Video games are regulated by PEGI, making sure age ratings are in place - they're usually clearly visible on any game packaging.
• Use family settings to stay connected. Some online services, smartphones and laptops allow you to use settings that mean parents can stay on top of how their children are spending time online, add restrictions to the content they can see, or limit downloading of new apps.
• Make sure you and your child know how to report, block and mute. While online services are required to make this simple to do, it's worth checking that your children are aware of how to do it, and what to expect when they do.

Setting a good example

Talk openly to your children about what they're doing when they're online, and encourage them to tell you if they've encountered something that they found upsetting or unsuitable.

It also helps to lead by example when it comes to your children's tech use. For example, you might want to set boundaries around screentime, and when and where they're allowed to use their devices. So, think about sticking to those same rules yourself to set a positive example.

Further tips

There is a range of guidance available for parents looking to help their children stay safe online this Christmas. From instructions on how to set up parental controls, to tips on navigating those tricky conversations. Check out the following sites for more information.

• Get Safe Online
• UK Safer Internet Centre
• NSPCC
• Internet Matters