Tech firms failed two generations of teenagers on safety, crime chief warns

Tech giants have prioritized profits over the safety of two generations of young people who now support a ban on social media for those under 16, according to Britain’s equivalent, the FBI.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said the widespread online dangers faced by children were unsurprising given that tech companies “chose not to make child safety a core principle” in their product designs.

Both the NCA and the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) are advocating banning under-16s from using social media unless the platforms make significant changes to their “high risk” features.

This significant intervention comes before the government’s public consultation on whether such a ban should be introduced concludes next week.

NCA chief executive Graeme Biggar said: “The online environment in its current form is not safe for children.

“The problem we see is getting worse rather than better, and that’s because companies are choosing not to make child safety a core design principle.

“Unless we legislate, it’s unrealistic to expect tech companies to prioritize security over profits. When the market crashes, the Government needs to step in.”

“We have already failed two generations of young people by abandoning them to the dangers of social media without any social safety net.

“The longer we wait, the slower we go, the more kids we fail.”

The six “high-risk” features it identified include mass discoverability of children online, unrestricted communication with unknown adults, encrypted messaging, algorithms that favor harmful content, nude image sharing or scanning, and weak age verification processes.

The NCA and NPCC say the Government should ban under-16s from accessing platforms that do not modify these features.

They also recommend the Government introduce nudity controls on devices to ensure children under 18 cannot receive, share or view nude photos or videos, and give Ofcom greater powers to require age verification.

The NPCC said the online world was currently a “Wild West” where criminals could roam free and the decision to support the ban on under-16s was regrettable but absolutely necessary.

NPCC chief constable Gavin Stephens said: “If I have one major concern for the future it is that we are unaware of this risk to our children and vulnerable people.

“The online world continues to be a Wild West where legislation and regulations cannot keep up with the pace of technology.

“It’s a sad truth, but criminals, abusers, fraudsters and extremists roam free in this world.”

But he added that he was hopeful that the possibility of a ban would encourage these platforms to change.

The chief constable said: “The features were designed by humans and it is not beyond human intelligence to design them.

“But what these brilliant people need is the right leadership and the right corporate incentives for companies to invest some of their profits in the safety of children.

“We firmly believe that restrictions are necessary to be the catalyst for technology companies to make these important changes.”

Mr Stephens added: “From a policing perspective, there are many wonderful benefits to the online world, but as things stand, we think the negatives far outweigh the benefits in the absence of these measures.”

Last year the NCA received 92,000 reports of potential child sexual exploitation activity online from technology companies; This has quadrupled in the last seven years. The NCA estimates there are between 710,000 and 840,000 adults in the UK who pose some degree of sexual risk to children.

Both bodies reiterated that enforcement and punishment of any ban should not focus on criminalizing children or parents.

Mr Stephens said: “We fully expect and understand that if restrictions are imposed children may feel punished and want to rebel against this – when they do I wanted to reinforce the message that we are not here to criminalize anyone.

“We want them to be protected. We want to have ways to report abuse and crimes, and we want to create a world where they are safe.”

The “growing up in the online world” consultation meeting, which will end on May 26, invited young people, their parents and guardians to submit their comments.

The debate over the minimum age for social media use was triggered by Australia’s decision last year to ban children from accessing various platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and TikTok.