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A list of what to do and where to go with specific issues

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A list of what to do and where to go with specific issues

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What to do if a child has come to you and needs help

1. Communication with your child is essential. Talk to them and reassure them that they can always come to you if something upsets or worries them online.

2. Save the evidence wherever possible. You may be able to report what has happened to the online service being used when the incident occurred. Evidence may include screen shots taken on a laptop or mobile device, emails, texts or online conversation histories. If you do need to make a report, evidence gathered will make it easier to show exactly what has taken place.

3. Knowing who to report to is a really useful step to resolve many issues, so do familiarise yourself with the services available below. Depending on what has happened, it might be necessary to let your child's school know too.

Where to report online concerns or risks

Grooming or other illegal behaviour

If you want to report someone who is behaving suspiciously online towards a child, you should contact 999 if it is an emergency situation, or otherwise make a report to CEOP, the Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre.

Criminal content online

If you see any criminal content online, you should report this to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). Criminal content in the UK includes child sexual abuse images, criminally obscene adult content, as well as non-photographic child sexual abuse images.

Young people under 18 can report nude images or videos of themselves which have been shared online to Childline.

Online content which incites hatred on the grounds of race, religion, disability and sexual orientation or transgender identity, should be reported to True Vision, which tackles all forms of hate crime.True Vision will give you information on content which indicates hatred and how to report it.

Media content inappropriate for children

If you want to make a complaint about an advert, television or radio programme, film, newspaper, magazine, video game or other type of content online of offline, that you think is unsuitable for children, then OFCOM provide information on how to do this.

Getting help/advice

Many popular online services have some really useful help and advice areas, as well as ways to report and block content that is not allowed on the site (eg cyberbullying). You can also set up parental controls and restrict in-app purchases.

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What to do if a child has come to you and needs help Communication with your child is essential. Talk to them and reassure them that they can always come to you if something upsets or worries them online. Save the evidence wherever possible.

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Type in the name of an app or game and get reviews from other parents of any associated risks.

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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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Together with Supercell, one of the worlds leading mobile gaming developers, we've pulled together practical tips and tools to help parents support children as they navigate the world of online gaming.
Electronic Arts
As part of our joint campaign Play Together / Play Smart together with Electronic Arts we created advice to help families get to grips with responsible video gaming.

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Together with Supercell, one of the worlds leading mobile gaming developers, we've pulled together practical tips and tools to help parents support children as they navigate the world of online gaming. Electronic Arts As part of our joint campaign Play Together / Play Smart together with Electronic Arts we created advice to help families get to grips with responsible video gaming.

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Specific Gaming advice for children with additional needs

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Specific Gaming advice for children with additional needs

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Specific advice for parents or carers of children with additional needs. (But the advice is helpful for any parent/carer!)

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With the rise in popularity of multiplayer games like Fortnite, the social aspect of gaming has grown. Often games provide chat features for users to interact. In some cases these have safety features (like privacy settings, AI tracking, and human moderation) but at times children may use other apps alongside the game to communicate which don't offer the same protections to keep them safe.

Also, our research reveals that children with vulnerabilities are twice as likely to experience contact with strangers and online trolling than those without vulnerabilities.

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Online gaming safely - supporting children with SEND | Internet Matters

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With the rise in popularity of multiplayer games like Fortnite, the social aspect of gaming has grown. Often games provide chat features for users to interact. In some cases these have safety features (like privacy settings, AI tracking, and human moderation) but at times children may use other apps alongside the game to communicate which don't offer the same protections to keep them safe.

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Supporting children who are more vulnerable online 

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Supporting children who are more vulnerable online 

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Navigate the range of expert advice guides to support children who may be more likely to experience online risks such as those with additional needs, disabilities, or certain lifestyles.

From browsing the internet to gaming online, you'll find practical tips to equip children and young people with the right tools to thrive online.
WATCH VIDEO

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Inclusive Digital Safety advice for Parents and Carers | Internet Matters

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Navigate the range of expert advice guides to support children who may be more likely to experience online risks such as those with additional needs, disabilities, or certain lifestyles. From browsing the internet to gaming online, you'll find practical tips to equip children and young people with the right tools to thrive online.

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Lots of useful how to videos showing you how to adjust settings on certain apps and also general online safety advice.

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"online safety" cyberbullying "internet safety" smartphone "social media" apps "parental control" "guide for parents" parenting "e safety" "internet matters"

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The internet matters. We're here to empower every parent in Britain to make confident, informed choices about their children's safety in this ever-changing digital world. As a not-for-profit organisation we're backed by the 4 main ISPs BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media.

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While there are huge benefits to being online to stay connected to family and friends, the government recognises many parents feel concerned about the activities and content their children are accessing. This guidance outlines resources to help keep children safe from different risks online and where to go to get support and advice.

Keep your child safe online

It is important to have regular conversations about staying safe online and to encourage children to speak to you if they come across something worrying online.

Talk to your child about the importance of creating a safe online environment, including keeping any log-in details and passwords safe.

These resources will support you to talk to your child about a range of online safety issues, set up home filtering in a child-friendly way and set up age-appropriate parental controls on digital devices:

What harms might my child experience online?

You may have concerns about specific harms which children can experience online. There are more resources to help you understand and protect your child from these, including:

Child sexual abuse

If you are concerned call 999 or report it to the NCA-CEOP.

If your child has been a victim of child sexual abuse - online or offline - and you believe they are in immediate danger, call 999 and ask for the police.

If you are concerned that your child has been a victim of online sexual abuse or you are worried about the way someone has been communicating with your child online, you can report it to .

These resources provide information and support for parents and carers on what to do if you're worried about child sexual abuse:

you can contact the NSPCC helpline (0808 800 5000) for support and advice if you have concerns about your own or another child's safety

Stop Abuse Together campaign provides advice and support on how to keep your child safe

Thinkuknow by NCA-CEOP has developed activities to support your child's safe use of the internet

the Lucy Faithfull Foundation's Parents Protect website has advice on how to help protect children from child sexual abuse including a Harmful Sexual Behaviour Prevention Toolkit

if you see sexual images or videos of someone under 18 online, report it anonymously to the Internet Watch Foundation who can work to remove them from the web and help to identify victims and survivors

you can contact Stop It Now! for information and advice if you have concerns about someone's behaviour, including children who may be displaying concerning sexual behaviour

you can contact The Marie Collins Foundation help@mariecollinsfoundation.org.uk for support, including advice and individual counselling, for your child if they have been subjected to online sexual abuse - support is also offered to parents and carers

Criminal exploitation and county lines, violence and gangs

Our page of advice to parents and carers on keeping children safe from abuse and harm has information on this.

Radicalising content

If you are concerned that any family member, friend or loved one is being radicalised, you can call the police or 101 to get advice or make a Prevent referral, so that they can get safeguarding support.

Support is tailored to the individual and works in a similar way to safeguarding processes designed to protect people from gangs, drug abuse, and physical and sexual exploitation.

Receiving support through Prevent is voluntary, confidential and not a form of criminal sanction.

If you need more help, you can also contact your local authority safeguarding team.

Consensual and non-consensual sharing of nude and semi-nude images and/or videos (also known as sexting or youth produced sexual imagery)

If you are worried about your child sending nude images or videos (sometimes referred to as 'youth-produced sexual imagery' or sexting), provides advice to help you understand the risks and support your child.

If your child has shared nude images, Thinkuknow by NCA-CEOP provides advice on talking to your child and where to get help.

So You Got Naked Online created by South West Grid for Learning, has advice for young people and parents affected by sexting, also available in a SEND (Special Educational Need and Disability) version.

Report Remove is an online tool where young people can request removal of a nude image of themselves which is circulating online.

Cyberbullying

If you are concerned about cyberbullying, you can find government advice and information about how you can protect your child and tackle it if it happens.

Age-inappropriate content and parental controls

Remember to review and adjust privacy and safety settings if you or your child is signing up to a new online service, app or piece of technology.

Internet Matters has step-by-step guides on how to set up parental controls so that you can control what content your child can access online

the UK Safer Internet Centre has guidance on how to switch on family-friendly filters to prevent age-inappropriate content being accessed on devices in your home

the has more information for parents or carers with concerns about their child seeking inappropriate or explicit content online

Apps to help children stay safe online

The BBC has a website and app called Own It. The website helps children navigate their online lives, and the free smartphone app comes with a special keyboard which can intervene with help and support in the moments that children need it the most. It can be downloaded for free in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

SafeToNet is an app for parents to help them protect their children from online risks like cyberbullying and sexting, while respecting their child's rights to privacy. The SafeToNet Foundation is providing UK families with free-for-life access to SafeToNet during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Mental health

If you are worried about your child's mental health, the NHS has published guidance on mental health and wellbeing.

If you are worried that someone you know is suicidal, including your child, Samaritans provides advice on how you can support others.

Support for children

If your child is worried or needs support, they can get advice and support from Childline (0800 1111) or download the 'For Me' app.

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Support for parents and carers to keep children safe online

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While there are huge benefits to being online to stay connected to family and friends, the government recognises many parents feel concerned about the activities and content their children are accessing. This guidance outlines resources to help keep children safe from different risks online and where to go to get support and advice.

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Parent Toolkit - ideas and resources to help you discuss online in a supportive way with your child

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Resources

Three resources that offer practical tips and advice on different aspects of keeping your child safe online.

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Key downloadable resources to support parents and carers.

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Every social media app, website and online gaming platform should have a way of you reporting issues online. This may be asking them to remove inappropriate content posted, block a user, deal with a hacked account or other linked issues. If you need any advice on specific platforms you can Google them or ask a school adult who will do their best to support.

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Questions, answers and tools to help you make the most of your time online.

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Online Money Management Tips to Support Young People

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Online Money Management Tips to Support Young People

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Specific social media advice for children with additional needs

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Specific social media advice for children with additional needs

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Specific advice for parents or carers of children with additional needs. (But the advice is helpful for any parent/carer!)

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To help support parents, carers, and young people with additional learning needs, we have created this hub to offer tailored advice on how to connect safely online across a range of social platforms.

Social media allows us all to make connections and breakdown barriers. For many young people, it can be a vital part of staying connected to the world around them. This resource hopes to empower young people with the tools to navigate it smartly and safely.

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Connecting Safely Online | Internet Matters

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To help support parents, carers, and young people with additional learning needs, we have created this hub to offer tailored advice on how to connect safely online across a range of social platforms. Social media allows us all to make connections and breakdown barriers.

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Article explaining how it works if you report something on a social media site.

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There is a lot of confusion about reporting content on social media platforms. Here we hope to debunk some myths, help you understand the process and therefore make more effective reports on social media.

What happens to my report?

When you report a piece of content or profile on a social media platform you have to select what type of problem it is, be it abuse, graphic content or copyright infringement for example. Once you have selected this, the report is scanned by a specific algorithm assessing the content by a pre-set standard. The best way to explain this is with an impersonation report:someone on Facebook has taken your name and your pictures to create an account they then use to start adding your friends. When you report this account and chose "they are pretending to be me" the algorithm will kick into action. It will scan the profile you have reported it from, compared with the profile you are reporting, it will then be able to see that your genuine account has been active for a few years, whereas the fake will have only been set up in the last week or so. It will see that your genuine profile has posted statuses, shared pictures, checked into places and been tagged by other friends fairly steadily since the account was opened, whereas the fake will have very little or none of this. In this situation the algorithm can quite quickly identify the account as fake and it will be removed. If however you had reported the page for being "abusive" (it can feel like a very abusive invasion of privacy) the algorithm will be scanning the page for abusive language, which may not be there. Its therefore really important to make the right report.

Who can see my report?

The short answer is, only you. As we have explored above, it is really unlikely that your report will even be assessed by a human. Facebook alone has over 2 billion users. If they were to employ enough staff to manually check over every report they receive, it would probably bankrupt them. That's not to say they can't do more, and the value of human moderation is widely appreciated, but very expensive. We also still hear people ask, "If I report someone/something, will the person know I have reported them/their content?", the answer is categorically 'NO'. This myth has put a lot of people off reporting content, in fear that the person posting it will know. No main-steam social media platform will ever inform someone who has reported them or their content as obviously this information could be used to further abuse.

Why hasn't my report worked?

It can be very frustrating when you can see something online that you know shouldn't be there, but reporting the violation hasn't been successful. The best tip is to report the violation correctly, as we have mentioned - if you are reporting an impersonation, report the impersonation. Remember that a computer is assessing this, and while they're designed to be clever, no machine will pick up context like a human can. You are giving them a set of instructions of what to look for, so make sure they are the right ones.

On the Professionals Online Safety Helpline we are in the unique position of being able escalate reports to social media companies, however we are only able to extend this help to the children's workforce in the UK. As it stands there is nowhere for the general public to escalate these reports or get a second opinion. The Government are starting to recognise this and a lot of conversations are being had around legislation and accountability. Perhaps in the future there will be a service for this, but until then, follow guidance we've provided, familiarise yourself with the functions on the network, and you may have a better result.

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Carmel Glassbrook, Professionals Online Safety Helpline Practitioner

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How Reporting Violations on Social Media Works

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There is a lot of confusion about reporting content on social media platforms. Here we hope to debunk some myths, help you understand the process and therefore make more effective reports on social media.