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Online safety advice
for parents and carers
____

12 October 2023

Over 1 in 5 children report coming across violent content online.*

Many children get their news from platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Reddit, which may be in the form of videos that feature violence or biased narratives.

Help limit potential harm and misunderstanding by reviewing their account and app settings.

Feature

A mum and teen daughter talk on the sofa.

Talk about content on social media
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Parental controls are great tools to help support your child's safety. However, when it comes to the content they might see or the information they might hear, conversations are key.

Talk about things going on in the news, what they know about it, their concerns and things you can do together to ensure their time online stays positive.

Our conversation starter guide can help.

GET THE CONVERSATION GUIDE

01

Update YouTube content settings

If your child is under 13, it's a good idea for them to use YouTube Kids. If they use the standard YouTube platform, make sure you review the content they see:

1. Go to app Settings > Parental settings
2. Set up your child's Supervised Account
3. Customise content limits

Learn about other tools like Restricted Mode in the full guide.

SEE YOUTUBE SAFETY GUIDE

02

Review TikTok content limits

It is against TikTok's Community Guidelines to share any content that is gory, gruesome, disturbing or extremely violent.

However, that does not mean content showing violence won't come across your child's feed. So, you can help them customise their feeds to stay safe:

1. Go to their profile > Settings and privacy
2. Tap Digital Wellbeing and turn on Restricted Mode.

This will limit age-restricted content and help children have more positive experiences. Learn about this and other features like Family Pairing in the full guide.

SEE TIKTOK SAFETY GUIDE

03

Customising content feeds on Reddit

Reddit lets users share content across communities. Some of this content links to different sites while other content is hosted directly on the platform as videos or images.

To help ensure your child is only seeing age-appropriate content, work with them to update their settings. If they use the browser:

1. Go to User settings > Feed settings
2. Turn off Adult content and turn on Safe browsing mode
3. Then, go to Safety & Privacy > Mute inappropriate subreddits

Learn more about Reddit and the potential risks to ensure your teen uses it safely.

SEE REDDIT INFORMATION GUIDE

*Internet Matters tracker survey, July 2023

Copyright © 2023 Internet Matters, All rights reserved.

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