Half of Irish children at risk of exposure to strangers online as parents fail to enforce restrictions, report reveals

CyberSafeKids spoke to 3,300 primary school children between the ages of eight and 12 and 1,700 parents nationwide for the survey.

Just over 93pc of the children said they go online to play games or use apps, often using platforms designed for older users.

Communications Minister Patrick O’Donovan has said he will bring a memo to the Cabinet next month on a new age-verification system for social media platforms themselves.

He said it would be based on a person’s PPS number, with this information being held by a third party rather than the platforms.

Despite regulatory requirements introduced in Ireland last July, 69pc of children surveyed had at least one account on a ­social media platform with a legal age rating of 13-plus. This rose to 79pc for 12-year-olds.

In terms of the content uploaded by those surveyed, just over 30pc said they posted photos or videos of themselves online, most commonly on TikTok, followed by Snapchat and YouTube. The messaging platform WhatsApp is also a popular place for sharing images.

They have not developed the skills and attributes for self-regulation

The survey also found that girls were more likely to share images and videos than boys.

Dr Colman Noctor, a child and adolescent psychoanalytic psychotherapist, said: “Young people are not emotionally, cognitively or socially mature enough to manage ­unlimited exposure to internet content.

“They have not developed the skills and attributes for self-regulation, so expecting them to be able to do something they are unable to do is setting them up for failure.

“While the exposure to inappropriate content is a real and present concern, we must also be aware that spending excessive time online compromises the development of social interaction skills and emotional resilience.”

The survey also focused on supervision – just under half of the 1,700 parents surveyed said they put controls on their children’s devices.

Additionally, most parents said they set rules and limits around screen time and online activity.

However, almost half admitted “they’re not always enforced” and nearly a quarter said they “wouldn’t know where to begin”.

Derek Chambers, who is policy lead on national mental health at the HSE, has highlighted a “digital disconnect” between parents and children.

He is calling on the Government to adopt a number of protective measures. These include:

• An immediate and comprehensive ban on so-called “nudify” and “pornify” apps;
• Extending copyright protection to an individual’s body, facial features, and voice;
• A risk-assessment framework by experts for all online environments to determine levels of risk to children and age appropriateness;
• The prioritisation of mandatory online safety;
• Digital media literacy education in schools and national parental awareness campaigns.