Why the Internet Should be Made Safer for Children - Not the Other Way Around with Baroness Beeban Kidron

The early egalitarian promise of an open and free internet has morphed over the past three decades into an algorithm-driven experience that is designed to addict and extract data and money from adults and children alike.

In this episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry is joined by renowned children’s digital rights advocate Baroness Beeban Kidron to learn how we got from “there” to “here” – and why making technology safer for children, rather than expecting children behave more safely on the internet, is a critical issue for our time. Kidron details why now is the “big tobacco” moment for tech platforms and child internet safety, and shares successful strategies for regulating tech platforms from the UK and Europe that could be used as a playbook for change elsewhere.

In this episode you will learn:

• Why the egalitarian promise of the early internet has led to a “generational injustice” of children being treated as adults online
• What designing and regulating the internet with the rights of children in mind should and could look like
• How the 5Rights Foundation and other organization are increasing child safety online through regulation in Europe – and why it’s harder to make progress in the United States
• How Kidron thinks the tech companies have controlled the narrative – and why they must be held to a “duty of care” towards children like any other business
• How the business model of today’s tech companies impedes them from independently making their platforms safer for children

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)

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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au