Growing up online: rethinking child protection in the digital age

Kyri Lefteri, New Court Chambers

This article explores the challenges of adapting children’s law in England to address the complexities of the digital age.  It highlights how children’s lives are increasingly intertwined with online environments, which shape their identities, relationships, and emotional development.

Traditional legal frameworks struggle to address novel, continuous, and borderless online harms such as cyberbullying, grooming, and exploitation. The concept of “digital neglect” is discussed, emphasising the need for parental supervision of children’s online activities to prevent emotional harm and exploitation. However, evidential challenges in family courts may make it difficult to establish harm caused by unsupervised online activity.

The article also examines “sharenting,” where parents share children’s personal information online, potentially violating their rights and creating lasting digital footprints. Current law and regulation, including the Online Safety Act 2023 and the Age Appropriate Design Code, focus on platform accountability but lack provisions addressing parental oversharing or restricting children’s access to social media. Comparative examples from countries like Australia and France show more interventionist approaches. The article calls for legal reforms to better protect children’s digital autonomy, regulate parental authority online, and educate parents about safeguarding children in the digital age.