I can’t help but worry about what my kids do online, and I know millions of parents feel the same way.
Tragic stories in the news of online grooming, cyber bullying driving kids to harm themselves and radicalisation through social media apps show the devastating consequences of harmful content online.
A recent survey of Mumsnet users, with the Internet Watch Foundation found that three quarters were worried about ‘unpleasant or aggressive people, trolls and bad language’, and 8 out of 10 worried about children ‘being exposed to sexual imagery or pornography’.
This is why we do our bit to keep an eye on our children - limiting their screen time, using parental controls, warning them about the dangers online.
But now it’s time for the tech companies to do more.
As Home Secretary, I’ve been disgusted by the scale of child sexual abuse online that has been uncovered by our work. It was when I visited the National Crime Agency’s Child Exploitation Online Protection Command last year that the full horror of the evolving nature of child sexual abuse was really brought home to me. Thousands of predatory paedophiles are lurking on popular social media sites, gaming and live streaming platforms, hiding behind fake profiles to attempt to ensnare and groom kids. Shockingly children are being abused on live-streams for as little as £12.
The National Crime Agency told me it is one of the most dangerous threats that we face in Britain and as we learn more, so we have to keep stepping up our response.
That’s why I visited the tech giants including Google, Facebook and Microsoft in the States last year to demand that they wake up to this sickening reality and make sure that this kind of activity is not available on their platforms.
Today we have gone one step further to help make sure the UK is the safest place in the world to be online by putting a stop to self-regulation of the internet.
The government has published its Online Harms White Paper, which sets out how to put an end to activity that harms people, particularly children. It also helps support parents in preventing and dealing with online harms including child sexual exploitation and abuse, radicalisation, inciting violence and violent content, encouraging suicide and cyber bullying.
The new proposed laws will apply to tech companies of all sizes, including social media platforms, public discussion forums, messaging services, and search engines.
Companies failing to comply with the new rules will face tough punishment which could include fines and blocking access to their sites overseen by a newly appointed regulator.
Forums like Mumsnet have allowed people to connect in ways we have never seen before - sharing and learning, laughing and finding comfort in each other. That is how the internet should be: enjoyed, not feared.
The proposals revealed today will help give parents peace of mind of knowing their children will be a lot safer online.
If we saw a child being abused or threatened in the street, I know we wouldn’t stand by. We would do something.
Now is the time that we expect the same response online.
Note: You can find out more about the government’s action to tackle Online Harms here. You can also take a look at this factsheet for more information about the White Paper and read this factsheet about terrorist content and child sexual exploitation and abuse online.
The Home Office will respond to some comments and questions this week - we’ll confirm exactly who and when as soon as we can.