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Online safety involves protecting yourself and your personal information while using the internet. It's crucial for parents and carers to understand the risks associated with online activities and how to safeguard against them. This includes being aware of cyberbullying, exposure to inappropriate content, and the potential for online predation. Learning about online safety is the first step towards creating a secure digital environment for your family.

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Importance of Online Safety for Children

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Importance of Online Safety for Children

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The internet offers an incredible platform for learning and socialisation for children. However, it also poses various risks. Understanding the importance of online safety can empower parents and carers to take proactive steps in protecting their children from cyberbullying, inappropriate content, and online predators. This post outlines the key reasons why online safety is essential for young users and offers tips for maintaining a secure online presence.

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Parental controls are a crucial tool in safeguarding children's online experiences. They help regulate what children can access online and monitor their digital activities. This post provides a straightforward guide to setting up parental controls on various devices and platforms, ensuring a safer online environment for your family.

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Encouraging Safe Internet Browsing Habits

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Encouraging Safe Internet Browsing Habits

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Fostering safe internet browsing habits is essential for children's online safety. Parents and carers can play a significant role in teaching children about the importance of being cautious online, recognising unsafe websites, and avoiding sharing personal information. This post offers practical advice for encouraging smart browsing habits.

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A plethora of online resources are available to assist parents and carers in navigating the challenges of online safety. These resources include guides, tips, and tools for ensuring children's safety on the internet. This post provides links to reputable online safety resources specifically designed for parents and carers.

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We've created these digital safety resources to make it easier for families to incorporate and practice good digital habits in your everyday lives.

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Knowing how to report online safety concerns is vital for protecting children in the digital world. Whether it's cyberbullying, inappropriate content, or online predation, timely reporting can prevent further harm. This post outlines the steps parents and carers can take to report online safety issues to the relevant authorities.

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Sometimes, innocent searches can lead to not so innocent results. If you come across an indecent image of a child online, it is important to report this to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) so that they can review this content. Some nude images of children are classed as Child Sexual Abuse material. If it is illegal, the IWF will take steps to take this down and safeguard the child.

The IWF's reporting portal can be used anonymously.
If nude images of your child are shared online:
If you know a young person who has had a sexual image or video of themselves shared online, and they're under 18, talk to them about Childline and the Internet Watch Foundation's Report Remove tool.

It allows young people to discreetly report a nude image or video shared online, to see if it's possible to get it taken down. Young people can get support from Childline throughout the process. They just need to follow 3 steps:

1. Follow the instructions to prove their age. They may need ID for this.

2. Log into or create a Childline account so they can receive updates on their report.

3. Report and remove: the IWF will review it and work to have it removed if it breaks the law.

You can also see advice on how to support a child dealing with pressure to share nudes on our sexting page, and read information for parents about Report Remove.

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Guidance on what to do if you're worried about something a child has experienced online.

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Children love to socialise and share online. Find out how to use privacy settings and how they can help your child to manage the content they share and who they connect with.

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Personal information is any information that can be used to identify your child.

It includes obvious things like their name and email address, date of birth, or where they live. It can also include some less obvious things, like who their family and friends are, where they go to school, or a photograph or video showing what they look like. Online it also includes their username and password.

Personal information also includes bank or payment details - although most of the time this will be your information, rather than your child's.

Sharing personal information

There are lots of ways your child might share personal information.

This includes:

Sharing when creating a new online account. Most online sites, apps and games ask you to share some of your personal information, like your name and email address, when you create an account, as well as creating a username and password. If you have primary aged children, the accounts should be set up together or by you, so you know what information has been shared.

Choosing to share with others. Children love to share, and many of the apps, games and smart toys that children use to learn, socialise and play will also ask them to share information about themselves. This might be a picture of themselves, their birthday or their hobbies and interests

Accidental sharing. It's easy for children to share things online and they may share personal information without thinking about it. Such as where they live by putting up a photo and putting #happytobehome.

Being tricked into sharing information. Your child could be tricked into sharing personal information by an unsafe website, scam email or pop up box. For example, children love competitions, prizes and giveaways, and may share their email address to get something in return.

Once shared, personal information could be used by others. For example, it could lead to the child being bullied, groomed or blackmailed or it might be used by used by cyber criminals. Don't worry, there are things you can do to help protect them and places you can go if things go wrong online.

How can you help protect your child?

1. Talk to your child about safe sharing. Talk to your child about personal information - what it is and when it is safe to share. Our Thinkuknow resources can help (see below). Make sure they know that some information should not be shared with others online and if they share something they shouldn't, they should let you or another grown-up they trust know.

Read our parent's guide to privacy settings for more information about keeping your child's information private.

2. Create anonymous usernames. On some sites, apps and games, children may be talking to other people that they don't know offline. Let your child know that they shouldn't share their full name or any other personal information about themselves such as the name of their school, address or telephone number.

3. Protect their usernames and passwords. Explain to your child that if other people see their username and/or password, the could use this information to access their account. Any passwords they set should be strong and safe but easy for them to remember and they shouldn't share their password with anyone, including their friends.

4. Think before they click. Remind them that some sites, emails and pop ups may try to trick them into clicking on links or sharing information. For example, they may offer free coins, avatars or upgrades. Before they click on any links, they should stop and ask for help from a grown up first.

Download our Cyber Security Activity Pack for fun ways to create strong passwords.

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How to protect your child's personal information and support them to make safe choices about what they share about themselves online

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These controls are designed to help you manage your child's online activities. Parental controls can set online time restrictions for your child and create content filters to manage the content they see. Parental controls can be used across your broadband, Wi-Fi, apps, games consoles and personal devices including mobile phones and tablets. There are various types, some of which are free but others which can be bought.
However, nothing is totally fool proof so they shouldn't replace the need for you to support and advise your child on online safety.
How can I use parental controls?

Accessing device controls can vary according to the manufacturer. Controls can offer differ types of protection. From filtering out adult content in search results, to preventing your child from buying things when playing games. You can find instructions on how to set controls on the manufacturer's website or to find specific guidance for your device, network or platform use this online tool from Internet Matters.

Control settings will apply whether the device is being used in your home or outside. It's also easy for controls to be switched off, so make sure your child understands why the settings are in place.

What are some examples of parental controls?

Games consoles

Most games consoles come with settings, which can be put in place for either the device itself or the games platform. It's easy to forget that games consoles allow players to connect to the internet and talk to people all over the world, So setting controls on devices and on the platform itself is important.

Broadband and network

Broadband and network controls can be used to prevent inappropriate material from being accessed. For example, restricting anything with a horror or sexual content from being accessible via your home broadband. Instructions for accessing these filters can be found on the service provider's websites. Look at the bottom of the page to find the "help" or "security" page.

Online controls

Search engines such as Google allow users to filter out certain types of search results. This means you can reduce the risk of your child seeing adult content like pornography, or set limits on the time they spend online. Look for the cogwheel "settings" symbol where you will find the options for each provider. You can also encourage your child to use safer search facilities, such as SafeSearch Kids from Google.

Social media and other websites

As with search engines, social media and sites like YouTube have privacy and security settings. These can prevent your child from being contacted by strangers or from seeing inappropriate material. It is important to remember that content filters can't prevent other people from sending offensive or inappropriate messages or comments to your child's account. So controlling who can contact your child is a key step.

Paid controls

It is also possible to buy filter programmes. These can be either solely for filtering purposes, but some virus protection software also offer filtering options.

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These controls are designed to help you manage your child's online activities. Parental controls can set online time restrictions for your child and create content filters to manage the content they see. Parental controls can be used across your broadband, Wi-Fi, apps, games consoles and personal devices including mobile phones and tablets.

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Gaming is loved and enjoyed by children and adults across the world. It can be a way for children to be social, learn new skills, develop team work and relax. However, gaming also comes with risks for children. It can be difficult to keep up with the latest games and how they work. Here we take a look at key safety concerns and how you can support happier, safer gaming for your child.

Remember - If you are worried that a child is being groomed in a game, or on any other online platform you should seek support. You can contact your local police by calling 101. If you believe a child is in immediate danger call the police on 999.

If you would like to talk to a professional about any other online concerns, you can call the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000.

How can I make gaming safer for my child?

Talk with your child about gaming. Talk with your child to learn the games they like, what the content of those games are and what features the games have. This will help you to understand more about how your child plays games and how appropriate different games are. Once you know which games your child likes, you can use NSPCC's Net Aware to search for apps and games to find out more about them and how safe they are.

Learn together. You can use our resources to teach your child about safer gaming at all ages. For primary age children you can use our Jessie & Friends (ages 4-7) and Play, Like, Share (ages 8-10) resources. Secondary age children can access advice about gaming through the Thinkuknow website, as well as through on-going conversations with you.

Set boundaries and safety settings. Internet Matters make it easier to put safety settings in place, providing step-by-step guides for each console or device. Spend time setting these up with your child and make sure they know how to block and report on the games they are playing. You should also talk with your child to create an agreement for gaming; think about how much time they can spend, which games they can access, if you will allow in-app purchases and what spaces they can play in. For primary aged children it is advisable to have them play in shared spaces/the same room as you.

How risky is in-game chat?

Gaming is often a social activity for children and talking with friends is part of their enjoyment. However, in-game chat can pose risks such as:

● chatting with people they don't know. This can include adults that are seeking to make contact with children with the intention of sexual grooming and offences.
● inappropriate or unmoderated chat. Whilst a lot of chat is moderated, chat is live and there is a risk of exposure to sexual language, swearing or bullying.
● requests to make chat private. Once chat is moved off a monitored platform, no one is moderating it. This can be used to pressurise children into sharing personal information, photos, video or chat that they don't want to.
● offering gifts or trades. This may be used by offenders to build trust and a relationship with a child, as part of grooming.

Learn more about in-game chat and what you can do to make it safer by reading our parents and carers guide to in-game chat.

How do I know what games are age appropriate for my child?

Our article on what's appropriate for your child will help you to understand more about the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) age rating system, which helps parents and carers to make informed decisions around games, giving age ratings and content descriptors.

It is also important to consider your child's individual needs, emotional maturity and experiences to support the decisions you make around gaming. For example, a game may be rated age appropriate but have content that you know your child will find frightening or won't understand.

Should I be worried about gifts and trades in gaming?

Items such as game currency, skins, loot boxes, tools and weapons are often used in games to help a player progress through the game or give increased status amongst other gamers. Often these require in-app purchases, which many children won't have access to, or require your permission for, so accepting trades or gifts may be tempting.

Whilst not always the case, trades or gifts within gaming can be used by child sex offenders to gain contact with a child. They may offer gifts asking nothing in return, this can be part of the grooming process and can help to build a close relationship with a young person. They may also try to use gifts as a way to persuade a child to do something such as going on a webcam, taking photos or videos of themselves, moving conversation to a different online platform or to an offline platform such as messaging over phone.

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Gaming: what parents and carers need to know

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Gaming is loved and enjoyed by children and adults across the world. It can be a way for children to be social, learn new skills, develop team work and relax. However, gaming also comes with risks for children. It can be difficult to keep up with the latest games and how they work.

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Getting to grips with apps children use

Although child-friendly apps can make using the internet a more accessible and enjoyable experience, the thousands of apps available for different types of people mean it's important to make sure children use appropriate ones.

This guide maps some of the most common apps available and highlights those that might create risky situations for children, such as unintentionally revealing personal information, stranger danger and generating large bills through in-app purchasing.

It also features advice on apps that can be used to improve children learning and wellbeing to help them get the best experience out of the online world.

Latest app review: Yolo app

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Apps guide for parents | Internet Matters

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Getting to grips with apps children use This guide maps some of the most common apps available and highlights those that might create risky situations for children, such as unintentionally revealing personal information, stranger danger and generating large bills through in-app purchasing.

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Social media advice hub | Internet Matters

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Get expert advice to help pre-teens and teens stay in control of their social media use and navigate the risks and the rewards it can offer safely.

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Set up devices e-safety checklist | Internet Matters

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Use this checklist to set up devices safely for children to help them stay safe online and have positive experiences.

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Content warning: This section includes graphic sexual descriptions.

A nude image must include one of the following to be removed:

nude or semi-nude sexual posing

someone nude or semi-nude touching themselves in a sexual way

any sexual activity involving a child

someone hurting someone else sexually

sexual activity that includes animals.

Where possible, it is better if you can upload the original image or video, or a copy of it, rather than a photograph of it on another screen. This helps IWF find the image more accurately.

If you want to report something that isn't a nude image or video to see if it can be taken down, you can see more information from Childline about deleting things shared online here. You can make a report to CEOP, the part of the police who are there to support children and young people online. You can always speak to a Childline counsellor.

Confirming your age with ID gives us more legal powers to remove images from as many places as possible. If you don't have ID or feel comfortable using it, we can still take down images, but from fewer places.

You can use the following ID to confirm your identity using Yoti:

passport or biometric residence permit

driving licence and provisional licence

Young Scot Card (Yoti app only)

CitizenCard (Yoti app only).

If you don't have any of these, you can get a young person's ID card. You'll be able to get this for £5 with the promo code NSPCC5. Make sure you choose 'Yoti CitizenCard' on the first page.

Whatever ID you use, please make sure that it is valid and in-date.

IWF will read all reports within one working day, from Monday to Friday. The time it takes to get your image removed from the internet can be different depending on where the image is hosted.

If the image is on a UK-based website it can often be removed within 2-3 hours. Unfortunately, in some countries it can take longer - sometimes days or weeks. But IWF analysts will always try to make sure it happens as soon as possible.

We'll do our best to let you know once your image has been removed by sending a message to your  Childline locker.

We recommend you check your locker every few days after you make a report. This is so you can see if your image has been removed, and so Childline can let you know if IWF need more information to be able to remove it. Remember, IWF can't contact you directly.

If you need support to help you cope while you're waiting, you can also speak to a Childline counsellor any time.

When you use Report Remove, your image or video is shared with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). They'll work to get your image removed from the internet. See 'Who are the IWF?' to learn about how that happens.

Most of the time, nobody will know that you've made a report and your report won't be shared with anyone else.

If the police already have the image or video you report, then they might investigate what's happened. Only the police can decide if they'll need to tell someone else.

The police might already have your image or video if:

someone has reported it on another website and that website passed it to the police

they're investigating someone who had or has the image or video already (if someone is found to have your image and is breaking the law - regardless of how, it may be included as evidence in a criminal case against that person

someone else reported the image to them directly.

Remember that the police are there to protect you, not to get you into trouble. If the image has been reported somewhere else and you're worried, you can always  speak to a Childline counsellor.

If you have parental controls on your phone your parent or carer might see when you want to download a new app, so they might get a notification if you try to download Yoti and want to know why. To avoid this, use the second option to prove your age (called 'ID verification').

The IWF can remove images that are public or available to anyone on the internet. However, they won't be able to remove images or videos on encrypted networks like WhatsApp, or which are saved on a person's phone or computer.

If you're over 13 and you've made a report without using ID, then there may be some sites the IWF can't take images down from.

If you don't use ID the IWF can help by removing your image or video from most sites. If you do use ID, the IWF can remove from all sites

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a UK charity, are there to help remove illegal nude images of under 18s posted online.

Once the IWF has confirmed your nude image is against the law and can be removed from the internet they give it a digital fingerprint called a 'hash'. The hash can be used to find your image online even if it has been cropped or slightly changed.

Sharing just the hash with certain trusted companies and organisations, means that technology can be used to find online matches of the image - this is key to trying to stop it appearing in different places on the internet. Even though the hashes and images are shared with UK police, this is so that if they came across the image some other way, they'd know that you also reported it yourself. Report Remove was developed with the full support of the police and no one involved wants to get you into trouble for sharing the image so it can be removed.

Different companies use the hash in different ways. For example, if an illegal image match is found to have been shared by an online account holder, a company may decide to close that person's account as posting illegal images will be against the company's terms and conditions. If your image(s) are found on or are linked to your online user account(s) it may be possible for the company to associate your profile with the images.

The companies that take the hashes trust the Report Remove process, however if they have significant concerns that the person in the image may not be the person who was age verified, they may get in touch with the IWF to raise their concerns.

There are 3 organisations that help you report your image using Report Remove. These are Childline, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and also Yoti if you are 13 or older and choose to prove your age using ID. All of them have a responsibility to keep all of your personal information safe.

1. We'll ask you to choose your age range (under 13, 13-15, 16-17, 18 and over). If you're under 13, you'll go straight to step 3. If you're aged 13 or older, us at Childline will ask you if you have access to ID to prove your age. If you do, you'll be asked to visit Yoti. The only information we will share with Yoti is that you are wanting to prove your age to use Report Remove.

2. Once you prove your age using Yoti, you will come back to Report Remove on Childline. The only information Yoti will share with Childline is confirmation that you're younger or older than 18.

3. We'll then ask you to create or sign in to a Childline account. Then you'll go to the IWF website to share the content you want removed. Childline will only share the information below with IWF:

that you're younger than 18 (either confirmed by Yoti, or that you told us you are younger than 18),

the age range you selected at the start,

a unique number that is created when you use Report Remove.

4. After your report has been passed to the IWF, they will tell Childline if they were able to work to take the images or video down from the internet, and why. This is so Childline can let you know what happened. IWF may also tell Childline some information about what you reported, to help them know how best to support you and keep you safe. IWF will never share an image or video that you report with Childline.

Information you give to Childline
Any information you give Childline will always be treated carefully and in line with our  Privacy Policy. This means that any information you give us as part of Report Remove will only be used to help the IWF review your report and to keep you safe. This will include the age range that you select and a unique number that's created when you go onto the IWF website. We will not share any of your information with Yoti.
Information you give to IWF
The only information you will give to the IWF are the images, videos or URLs you report. There is space to add information such as where the image or video is on a webpage.

They will process this in line with their privacy policy.

Nude images and videos that IWF decide are illegal may be kept by the IWF for up to 2 years. This is because there is an agreement with the Police and CPS (Crime Prosecution Service), called a 'Memorandum of Understanding' (MOU). Illegal images are given a hash (a string of numbers that are like a digital fingerprint). The hash is shared with organisations such as technology companies who host online content, so that they can look for the image and take it down. The actual image is not shared with these companies. The image and the hash are shared with the police who store it on their Child Abuse Image Database. Any images or videos that they decide are not illegal may be kept for a maximum of 6 months for quality checking and any follow up questions. They will then be deleted. Sometimes, even if it's decided that the content isn't illegal, IWF can share the content URL with some industry members to see if they can take the content down.

If you report a URL (link to a webpage), and choose not to prove your age using ID, IWF will still check to see if the content is something they can take action on. If so IWF may share the URL with South West Grid for Learning (SWGfL), who are a charity who help people who have had intimate images of them shared online. SWGfL will never view the content on a URL that is shared with them. SWGfL send a notice to internet companies that host the webpage you reported, to tell them to take it down. This is because IWF can only send a notice to companies to take a specific webpage down when it is confirmed it is of a child. SWGfL can also send notice to take down content, but they do not need to prove it is of a child. This helps get your images or videos from even more places.

Childline will never see what pictures, videos or URLs you share with the IWF. The only information the IWF shares with Childline apart from your case number is whether or not they could take down your images or videos, and why, so we can let you know, as well as information about the image or video that you reported that will help Childline to support you and keep you safe.

Information you give to Yoti
You can choose to use Yoti to confirm your age if you're over 13. This may involve taking a selfie, so Yoti know it is you who are proving your age, and uploading a picture of some ID. Any personal data you send Yoti - like your photo, date of birth or address - is scrambled with a high level of encryption so that even if it was stolen, no one could use it to identify you. The only information Yoti shares with Childline is confirmation that you're under or over 18.

You can see Yoti's privacy policy here, and more information about their age portal here, which is what is used in Report Remove to prove your age.

If you're using the Yoti app, Yoti may use the selfie, month and year of birth you add to the Yoti app to improve its age estimation technology. You can opt out from this in the More> My Data> Biometric consent menu of the app.

There are lots of ways to get help with your report:

if you're having problems with Yoti, you can contact them directly in the app.

if you need any support with making your report send a message to Childline with the title 'Report Remove'.

Childline counsellors are always here for you and want to help. And you can  talk to them  about anything you're going through.
I have a technical issue, what should I do?

Try using your default browser and close private browsing if you're using the Yoti app.

See if you can log in to your locker and send an email to Childline explaining your problem and the team will be able to help.

Make sure the ID you're using is valid and in-date (not expired).

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Use Report Remove to remove a nude image shared online

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Parents and Carers - UK Safer Internet Centre

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Tips, advice, guides and resources to help keep your child safe online

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It can be very hard to know if something is appropriate for children online as not everything has official age ratings. However, Common Sense Media can help with this. Parents and children can leave reviews of movies, tv shows, YouTube channels and games to say whether or not these things are appropriate for children. It also has parent tips where you can learn about different online platforms to support you in keeping your children safe online.

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Common Sense Media: Age-Based Media Reviews for Families

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Common Sense Media is the leading source of entertainment and technology recommendations for families. Parents trust our expert reviews and objective advice.

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This website has lots of useful information about online gaming. It brings together information from lots of different websites so there is a lots to learn. As well as giving need to know information about keeping safe, there is also information about in-game spending where children use real money to purchase things. There have been many instances with children not understanding they are spending real money or not realising how much they are spending. Some elements like Loot Boxes can also be linked to online gambling. To find out more, click on the link above.

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Providing Online Safety Training to schools and parents

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Online Safety Resources for Children with SEND

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Online Safety Resources for Children with SEND

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This helpful website has resources to support you with talking to your child about online safety. If your child is going to be spending time online, it is important that they are aware of ways to keep themselves safe. This can involve knowing what some of the dangers may be. These can be tricky conversations but they are necessary to keep children protected.

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Online Gaming Safety Resources for children with SEND | TechSafe

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Online Gaming Safety Resources for Children & Teens with Autism, ASD, ADHD and special educational needs (SEND)

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Protect Young Eyes has lots of good information about what is and is not appropriate for children online to support you in making informed decisions about what your child can do online. This section is about twitch which is a website where children can watch other people play games online. This can also be done on Youtube and some other sites. It is worth a read if your child enjoys watching other people play games online as even if the games are appropriate for children, the live streams (videos) may not be.

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Description: Twitch is one of the most popular live-streaming services. Users can watch their favorite streamers play video games, talk about politics, commentate on sports, host unique events, and be exposed to a large portion of LIVE content.

Category: Photo & Video
App Store rating: (Our opinion is that this app should be rated 17+)

Apple: 12+ (Infrequent/Mild Profanity, Crude Humor, Cartoon or Fantasy Violence, Realistic Violence, Horror/Fear Themes, Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References, Simulated Gambling, Contests, and Frequent/Intense Mature/Suggestive Themes)
To get a glimpse of what Twitch is like, check out the 2023 Streamer Awards (like the Oscars, but for streamers)
What do Parents Need to Know about Twitch?

Twitch briefly allowed nudity. On December 13, 2023, Twitch announced an update for sexual content and content classification labels. Essentially, this update allowed streamers to show "fictional" nudity for the sake of creative freedom and the growing artist communities on Twitch. While there might have been creators with true artistic intentions, this policy change was massively abused, specifically by the use of AI. But even without AI, Twitch simply went too far, deciding that popular, sexual dances were allowed without a content warning label. After two days, Twitch reversed their decision in another Sexual Content Policy Update on December 15:

"Upon reflection, we have decided that we went too far with this change. Digital depictions of nudity present a unique challenge-AI can be used to create realistic images, and it can be hard to distinguish between digital art and photography.

So, effective today, we are rolling back the artistic nudity changes. Moving forward, depictions of real or fictional nudity won't be allowed on Twitch, regardless of the medium."

Twitch is a very mature platform, whose policies are constantly changing. At any given time, they could allow specific types of nudity again, or allow extremely suggestive content to be listed without proper content labels. Twitch is like the Wild West of live-streaming. One minute, there are clear rules. The next, those rules have changed completely. And a few days later, the changes are reversed. Please be careful, because of their ability to easily change policies and willingness to do so - Twitch will always be a risky online environment.

Twitch Attire Policy. After the artistic nudity debacle, the demand for sexual content on Twitch was very high. So, Twitch streamers sought to supply that demand by using specific tactics to appear as if they were naked on stream. Either with censorship bars covering parts of their body, blurring effects, or simply showing most of the body but not technically breaking any policies. Sex sells and the streamers know it. They're pushing boundaries to get views, which = $$. To combat this, Twitch changed its policy on attire. Something they should have done a long time ago. You can read this policy change here: An Update to Our Attire Policy

Twitch is massively popular. There is a whole culture dedicated to online streamers, that reaches far past the gaming community. Twitch is owned by Amazon and boasts over 140 million viewers monthly. According to Twitch Tracker, there are around 2.4 million viewers on average, at any given moment.

Twitch can be a real time-waster. And in the fall, they are going to be adding Short-form videos and Stories, similar to TikTok or YouTube Shorts. This will greatly increase screen time on Twitch.

It's more than watching people play video games. "Just Chatting" is a genre on Twitch often full of non-gamer-related content. Most of the time, the streamer simply interacts with their chat while doing some project or task, or reacting to some news or drama. However, some of the top Just Chatting streamers are usually inappropriate for kids. Whether that is a hot-tub stream (yes, girls in bikinis live streaming from a hot tub), body painting, or making suggestive sounds into the microphone (ASMR). Streamers are required to label their streams based on the content, with specific tags, so this helps make inappropriate content easier to detect without being exposed to it. And not all of the genre's content is sexual, there are political commentators, drama channels, sports highlights, etc. But again, some of the top "Just Chatting" streamers are highly inappropriate. Be careful!

Special Events are becoming more popular on Twitch, such as 24-hour livestreams, or even a simulated parody of semi-professional baseball. If one of your kid's favorite streamers has a special event coming up, be prepared for them to do nothing but watch the stream. With some lasting hours long, and others going ALL day.

Mature Games. Mature games, especially 1st person shooters, are extremely common on Twitch. "Battle Royal" games, such as Call of Duty: Warzone, are a fan favorite. The intensity of only having one winner creates a captivating story to victory, and people love to watch streamers rage when they lose too. There's also a growing community for horror games, as people enjoy watching others get jump-scared and nervously wander through scary games.

Twitch on Gaming Consoles. Most gaming consoles have access to the Twitch app, which means they could have another account made using their profile on the console. Be sure to check in on your kid's devices to ensure they aren't hiding any alternate accounts.

How does Twitch Work?

Once you're logged in, click the game or genre you like and then click a streamer to watch. The most popular Twitch streamers have millions of followers and hundreds of millions of channel views. Streamers earn money from ads, affiliate marketing, subscribers, and donors.

Live-streaming is risky. Live is, well, LIVE. What streamers say and do goes out immediately, so the content is unpredictable. However, Twitch is unafraid to ban people from their site for showing explicit material or saying extreme slurs.

Twitch bannings have often been controversial, as many streamers ride the line between "too explicit" and not technically breaking community guidelines. For some people, livestreaming is their entire career and livelihood. Popular streamers are rather careful not to cross the black-and-white lines, but many still operate in the gray. If your child is exposed to something egregious, reporting it will almost surely get the streamer banned, especially if they have a larger audience.

Live chat is even more risky. Moderating a live stream with thousands of users is difficult. With chatbots pasting links to websites, and scammers pretending to be other famous streamers, hackers, and trolls, it's hard enough to monitor the streamers themselves - it's nearly impossible to monitor a live chat with thousands of people commenting each second.

Whispers. Users can also send d irect messages, called Whispers. You can block incoming Whispers from strangers, we explain how below!

Twitch is owned by Amazon, so ads are everywhere. You'll see mature movie and game ads as well as fast-food commercials (A Turbo account eliminates ads for $11.99/month).

Donating. Streamers will often ask for donations, or have an open donation slot running. Twitch currency is called "Bits." Users can buy them to give to streamers (streamers earn $0.01 per Bit). Users can also sign up for monthly subscriptions to their favorite streamers, giving them special access to more content or custom chat emojis. Donations often come with a note attached. It's a common courtesy for the streamer to read the note on stream as a thank you for the donation. This creates a sort of feedback loop similar to social media. When your note gets read to thousands of people by one of your favorite content creators, you can't help but experience dopamine rushing through your brain.

Minor Streamers. Not in contrast to a major streamer, but someone younger than 18. For these users who might be streaming, there are loopholes in which a minor can monetize their account using Venmo. Once they can receive money, predators will donate and pressure the young streamer into doing what they say. And because money was given, the child streaming may feel obligated to complete the request.

How to Make Twitch Safer:

If you allow your child to use Twitch, we recommend you do the following:

Ensure their account uses their real age. For security purposes, don't use their exact birth date, just the year. Twitch enables some content restrictions by default based on age, this is true for most online platforms.

Log in to their Twitch account and select their profile picture in the top left (you should know their login info!)

Select "Settings" then select "Security & Privacy" and toggle on "Block Whispers from Strangers"

Select "Settings" then select "Preferences" and change Autoplay Videos to "Never autoplay videos"

Have frequent conversations about what and who they watch. Learn what your kid likes!

Watch streams with them. We want you involved as much as you can when it comes to Twitch. Not because you don't trust your kid, but because you don't trust the millions of content creators out there. It might be very boring or confusing for you, but even 5 minutes of watching streams together can make a big difference.

It's important to note that there are no content restrictions. Instead, Twitch has content labels, which will appear when clicking on a video - you might see a message that says the stream is for specific audiences only and includes "______" such as "sexual themes" "drugs" or another kind of mature content tag. Train your kid to select "Go back Home" if they ever see this message! Better yet, have them put down the device, and come tell you first.

Bottom Line: Is Twitch Safe for Kids?
No.
For us to say that Twitch is safe for kids, we need to see true parental controls and policies that won't change. We believe those 17 and under shouldn't use Twitch because of the varying risks that are present at any given moment. Live video is already unpredictable, and matching that with a platform that changes its rules so thoughtlessly - Twitch is simply not worth the risk.

For alternatives, YouTube might be the best option, as many content creators stream there as well. W e aren't huge fans of YouTube, but they at least have controls that can be locked in place - read our Ultimate Guide to YouTube to learn more.

What if I have more questions? How can I stay up to date?

Two actions you can take!

1. Subscribe to our tech trends newsletter, the PYE Download. About every 3 weeks, we'll share what's new, what the PYE team is up to, and a message from Chris.

2. Ask your questions in our private parent community called The Table! It's not another Facebook group. No ads, no algorithms, no asterisks. Just honest, critical conversations and deep learning! For parents who want to "go slow" together. Become a member today!

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One of the most popular live-streaming services. Users watch and interact with their favorite streamers, but there are great risks.

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