Creating safer online environments for young people is a complex matrix of issues, and researchers and advocates need better data to enable more protections. The Center for Democracy and Technology shared insights from a symposium on children’s online safety with researchers, policy experts, and civil society leaders.
Though the group did not land on any unanimous solutions, common themes highlight the connections between the different facets of youth safety online and emphasize the need for evidence-based and youth-centric approaches. They identified practical next steps to improve online safety, including:
- Make safety settings default, rather than opt-in,
- Empower users to customize their experiences,
- Enable privacy-preserving access to data for research, and
- Support digital literacy.
