How can Deloitte’s CyberSafe Kids report create a secure ecosystem?

Deloitte’s CyberSafe Kids report sheds light on the challenges of creating a secure digital environment for young people in Ireland. The report, now in its tenth year, is based on data from over 7,000 children aged eight to 15 from 74 Irish schools. This comprehensive study, titled 'The Year Little Changed,' explores children's online activities, access levels, and their overall experiences.

Conducted alongside focus group discussions and independent research by students from two universities, the report aims to understand the trends and risks impacting young people. Deloitte partner Nicola Flannery, who contributed to the report, explains that the decade-long tracking offers a broader perspective, revealing ongoing issues despite recent regulatory changes.

Flannery highlights that while major regulatory measures like the Online Safety Code and the Digital Services Act have been implemented, children in Ireland are still encountering the same harms in similar spaces. This finding serves as a wake-up call, indicating that the regulatory groundwork may not yet be yielding results. Policymakers, regulators, parents, educators, platform leaders, technologists, and business leaders across STEM sectors must read such reports and understand the necessary changes for their specific roles.

The report uncovers several key findings, including the issue of age assurance. Despite its implementation, 70% of children aged eight to 12 continue to have accounts on platforms requiring users to be at least 13. Self-declaration remains the main method used by platforms to verify age, allowing children to potentially bypass the requirement by changing their birth year.

This issue is acknowledged by the European Commission, which proposed the EU Kids Act. The proposed act emphasizes the need for certified, independent age verification and a default minimum age of 15 for opening social media accounts without parental involvement.

The report also discusses the prevalence of harmful experiences on popular gaming platforms like Roblox. Almost 60% of negative interactions reported by children aged eight to 12 occurred on Roblox, involving inappropriate avatars, sexual content, grooming attempts, scams, and games with self-harm themes lacking safeguards. While Roblox recently gained Very Large Online Platform status under the Digital Services Act, Flannery notes that designation on paper does not guarantee a safer experience for young users. The gap between designation and genuine safety is precisely what this report aims to measure.

Moreover, the report emphasizes the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in shaping young people's online experiences. Over half of the eight to 12 cohort and 76% of 12 to 15-year-olds use AI tools, yet nearly half admit to having no prior conversations about artificial intelligence. Flannery points out that while the proposed EU Kids Act covers AI companions and chatbots, explicitly addressing emotional dependency and memory features for younger users, the act is still a proposal and not yet law.

As children continue to form habits with AI, many are doing so before any protective measures are in place.