’Kids are not alright online’: new report

Dr Faith Gordon: 'There needs to be a clear duty of care.' Photo:Tracey Nearmy, ANU - Explicit and disturbing content is being "served up" to children online and the kids themselves are calling on adults in government and tech companies to step in to protect them, according to a new international report. Experts are calling for a clear duty of care after research conducted with some of society's most vulnerable children and youth found more than 70 per cent have seen content online that they found concerning, including violent and explicit content. The research was led by Dr Faith Gordon from The Australian National University's College of Law, for The Social Switch Project, which is partnership between charities Catch22 and Redthread. "Adults and the law are always 10 steps behind. Kids are telling us that they aren't alright online. Yet companies lack transparency and accountability," report author, Dr Faith Gordon from ANU College of Law, said.  "Alarmingly, we found children as young as two or three years old have been exposed to really violent and sexually explicit content.  "Often, young people have to navigate distressing pushed content.   "Children also talked about experiencing unwanted contact, often from adults posing as children or being bombarded with scams." The report found only 40 per cent of children who experienced online harm reported it to the platforms they were using.