Safeguarding Children on Social Media: UK Parents’ Guide

Protecting your child’s personal information on social media requires more than just setting a password. With 97% of UK teenagers using social media daily and platforms collecting vast amounts of data, safeguarding children online has become essential for every parent. This comprehensive guide provides practical steps for securing your child’s online presence across major social platforms, explains UK-specific legal protections, including the Children’s Code and Online Safety Act, and includes actionable conversation strategies that work with children of all ages.

What is Safeguarding Children on Social Media?

Safeguarding children on social media means protecting them from online harms whilst they use digital platforms. This includes preventing unauthorised access to personal information, blocking contact from strangers, limiting data collection by platforms, and shielding children from inappropriate content. For UK children, safeguarding benefits from protections under the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Children’s Code, which requires platforms to default to high-privacy settings for users under 18, and the Online Safety Act 2023, which holds platforms accountable for child safety.

Effective safeguarding children strategies include:

1. Private account settings are preventing public access to profiles and posts.
2. Location services are disabled to avoid tracking and to physical safety risks.
3. Restricting who can contact, follow, or message your child.
4. Limiting data collection and targeted advertising.
5. Age-appropriate content filtering to block harmful material.
6. Parental controls and monitoring are in place where appropriate.
7. Education about online risks and safe behaviour.

Safeguarding children requires both technical measures and ongoing conversations about digital citizenship, privacy, and how to recognise and respond to online threats.

The UK Legal Safety Net: Your Rights When Safeguarding Children

Unlike many countries, the UK has implemented some of the world’s strongest protections for safeguarding children online through three key frameworks that place legal responsibility on tech companies rather than solely on parents. Understanding these protections empowers parents to demand accountability from platforms and to report violations effectively.

The Age Appropriate Design Code (Children’s Code)

Enforced by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), this code fundamentally shifts the responsibility for safeguarding children from parents to tech platforms. Apps likely to be accessed by UK children must comply with 15 standards designed to protect children’s privacy and wellbeing. This represents a significant advancement in safeguarding children at the systemic level, rather than relying solely on individual parental action.

Platforms must default to high privacy settings for users under 18. Location tracking, data sharing, and profile visibility must be switched off by default rather than requiring parents to discover and change these settings. Apps can only collect data strictly necessary for the service to function and cannot use psychological techniques to pressure children into lowering their privacy protections or extending screen time.

The code explicitly prohibits “nudge techniques” designed to keep children engaged longer than they intended. Features like autoplay, infinite scroll, and reward systems must be designed with children’s well-being in mind. This recognition that platform design affects safeguarding children represents a significant shift in how UK law approaches digital child protection.

If you download TikTok or Instagram for your child and discover location tracking enabled by default, the platform may be breaching UK regulations. You have the right to report this to the ICO at ico.org.uk. The ICO has enforcement powers to investigate, demand changes, and levy fines against platforms that fail in their duty of safeguarding children.

The Online Safety Act 2023

This legislation makes platforms legally accountable for child safety in unprecedented ways. Platforms must remove illegal content targeting children, implement age verification for adult content, and protect children from harmful algorithm recommendations. They are required to conduct regular risk assessments of their child safety features and can face significant fines for non-compliance.

The Act creates specific duties for safeguarding children that exceed those for adult users. Category 1 services (the largest platforms) must assess risks to children from content algorithms, conduct annual child safety risk assessments, and maintain transparent reporting on the removal of harmful content. Ofcom, the designated regulator, can require platforms to implement specific safeguarding measures for children and fine companies up to £18 million or 10% of their global annual turnover for serious failures.

This means you can report platforms to Ofcom if they fail to implement adequate measures for safeguarding children. The regulator has enforcement powers to demand immediate changes and issue penalties. This accountability mechanism represents a crucial tool for parents concerned about platform safety.

Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR

The UK’s implementation of GDPR includes specific provisions for safeguarding children’s data. Parental consent is required for processing personal data of children under 13. Organisations must make reasonable efforts to verify parental consent and must explain data processing in clear, child-appropriate language.

For children aged 13-15, platforms must balance the child’s developing autonomy with protection needs. Privacy notices must be written in language children can understand, avoiding legal jargon and clearly explaining what happens to their data. This transparency requirement aids in safeguarding children by ensuring they know what they consent to.

Your Reporting Rights and Mechanisms

If your child experiences persistent cyberbullying, inappropriate contact from adults, exposure to harmful content, data breaches, or platform failures in safeguarding children, you have multiple reporting channels:

1. CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection): ceop.police.uk/safety-centre for reporting sexual abuse, exploitation, or grooming. CEOP investigates serious crimes against children and coordinates with international law enforcement. Reports are treated confidentially and can be made anonymously.
2. Ofcom: ofcom.org.uk for platform violations of the Online Safety Act, including failures in safeguarding children, inadequate content moderation, or harmful algorithm recommendations. Ofcom can compel platforms to make changes and issue significant fines.
3. ICO: ico.org.uk for data protection breaches, violations of the Children’s Code, or unlawful processing of children’s data. The ICO investigates complaints and can order platforms to cease unlawful processing and delete improperly collected data.
4. Action Fraud: actionfraud.police.uk for fraud, scams, or financial crimes targeting your child online. This includes account takeovers, phishing attempts, or exploitation through gaming platforms.

Knowing these reporting mechanisms is essential for safeguarding children, as it ensures you can escalate problems beyond platform-level reporting when necessary.

Understanding the Dangers: Why Safeguarding Children Matters

Before implementing privacy settings and monitoring strategies, parents need to understand the specific threats that make safeguarding children essential. These risks have evolved significantly as platforms become more sophisticated in their data collection and as children spend increasing amounts of time online. Recognising these dangers helps parents prioritise which safeguarding children measures to implement first.

Cyberbullying and Harassment

Cyberbullying affects 67% of UK children aged 8-17, according to Ofcom’s 2024 Children’s Media Use Report. When children’s profiles are public, bullies can access personal information, share embarrassing photos without consent, and coordinate harassment campaigns across multiple platforms. Safeguarding children from cyberbullying requires private accounts with restricted follower lists, significantly reducing the surface area for potential bullying attacks.

Screenshots of private conversations can be shared without consent, and content can be manipulated using readily available editing tools to damage reputations. The psychological impact on children can be severe, affecting academic performance, mental health, and social relationships. Teaching children to recognise when privacy has been violated and how to report it forms part of comprehensive safeguarding children strategies.

Persistent cyberbullying can lead to school refusal, depression, and in extreme cases, self-harm. Parents safeguarding children must create an environment where victims feel safe reporting bullying without fear of device confiscation, which often deters children from seeking help when they need it most.

Exposure to Inappropriate Content

Public profiles and unfiltered search functions expose children to content designed for adults, including violence, sexual material, and extremist propaganda. Algorithms on platforms like TikTok and Instagram can inadvertently recommend inappropriate material based on viewing patterns, creating rabbit holes that lead children deeper into harmful content. Safeguarding children requires age-appropriate content filtering, though parents must understand that automated systems remain imperfect.

The Online Safety Act requires platforms to prevent children from encountering illegal content, but parental vigilance remains necessary. Research by the Internet Watch Foundation found that children as young as seven encounter sexual content online, often accidentally through innocent searches. Safeguarding children from this exposure requires both platform-level filtering and parental oversight.

Beyond explicitly harmful content, children encounter material that promotes unhealthy behaviours, including extreme dieting, self-harm methods, and dangerous challenges. The algorithmic promotion of such content means that a child viewing one such post may be served hundreds more. Effective safeguarding strategies for children address both filtering incoming content and monitoring what children engage with.

Grooming and Predatory Contact

Public profiles allow predators to contact your child through direct messages, comments, and friend requests. Online grooming follows predictable patterns: predators identify potential victims through public profiles, build trust through seemingly innocent conversations, isolate the child by suggesting private communication channels, and eventually request personal information, photos, or meetings.

The Children’s Society reports that online grooming crimes increased 82% between 2017 and 2022 in the UK. Predators exploit children’s desire for attention, validation, and belonging. They may pose as peers, romantic interests, or authority figures. Safeguarding children from grooming requires restricting who can contact them, monitoring communications appropriately, and educating children about manipulation tactics.

Gaming platforms present particular grooming risks because predators can interact with children through gameplay while building relationships over time. Voice chat features allow real-time conversations that leave no text record, making detection difficult. Parents safeguarding children must understand that gaming is a social interaction requiring the same vigilance as conventional social media.

Data Collection and Profiling

Every interaction on social media generates data that platforms collect, analyse, and monetise. Platforms track which posts children pause on, which profiles they visit, how long they watch videos, which advertisements they engage with, and even their typing patterns. This data is used to build detailed psychological profiles for targeted advertising and, in some cases, sold to data brokers. Safeguarding children includes protecting them from exploitative data practices.

The ICO’s Children’s Code limits this data collection for UK users, requiring platforms to collect only data strictly necessary for service provision. However, many platforms operate internationally and may not fully comply with UK standards. Private accounts, disabled location services, and restricted data sharing settings reduce the information platforms can harvest about your child.

Beyond advertising, this data can be used to manipulate children’s behaviour. Platforms optimise for engagement, meaning they show content that keeps children scrolling regardless of whether that content benefits them. Recommendation algorithms may promote increasingly extreme content to maintain attention. Safeguarding children requires understanding these business models and implementing countermeasures.

Location data presents particular risks. When platforms track children’s movements, this data reveals home addresses, schools, regular activities, and daily routines. Data breaches could expose this information to criminals. Even without breaches, aggregated location data is sold to data brokers and used in ways parents cannot anticipate. Effective safeguarding children strategies disable location tracking entirely unless necessary.

Mental Health and Well-being Impacts

Research increasingly shows connections between heavy social media use and declining mental health in young people. The Royal College of Psychiatrists reports rising rates of anxiety, depression, and self-harm correlating with increased social media adoption among children. Whilst correlation does not prove causation, evidence suggests certain platform features harm well-being.

Constant comparison to curated, filtered images of peers creates body image issues and low self-esteem. Fear of missing out (FOMO) drives compulsive checking and anxiety. Cyberbullying reaches children at home, removing traditional safe spaces. Like-seeking behaviour creates dopamine-driven feedback loops similar to gambling. Safeguarding children involves protecting their psychological well-being as well as their physical safety.

Sleep disruption represents another documented harm. Children who use devices before bed experience reduced sleep quality and duration, which can impact their concentration, mood, and physical health. Blue light exposure and stimulating content prevent proper rest. Safeguarding children’s strategies should include device-free periods before bedtime and overnight.

The “Digital Seatbelt” Talk: How to Discuss Children’s Privacy

The most effective privacy protection comes from children understanding why it matters rather than simply following imposed rules. If children fear punishment for mistakes, they will hide problems until intervention becomes difficult.

Why the Conversation Approach Works

Children often view privacy settings as parents restricting their freedom or fun. Reframing children’s privacy as a tool that empowers them to control their digital reputation fosters cooperation. When children understand that privacy protects them from companies, strangers, and future embarrassment, they become partners in maintaining it.

Conversation Scripts by Age Group

Ages 7-10: The Stranger Concept

Instead of: “Don’t talk to anyone online!”

Try: “On Roblox, treat chat like the playground. You wouldn’t give your address to someone you just met at the park, would you? The same rule applies online. Only chat with friends from school.”

Ages 11-13: The Permanent Record Reality

Instead of: “Everything you post lives forever!”

Try: “Think of social media like a tattoo. Would you want this photo or comment visible to your teachers or future employers? If not, don’t post it. Once something goes online, you can’t fully control where it ends up.”

Ages 14-16: The Business Model Truth

Instead of: “These apps are spying on you!”

Try: “TikTok made £2 billion last year. How? They track which videos you watch, when you pause, what you share, then sell that data to advertisers. Let’s set up your account so they track as little as possible whilst you still enjoy using it.”

The Two-Way Agreement

Rather than dictating rules unilaterally, create a contract that both parties sign.

1. Parent Pledge: “I promise not to scroll through your private messages unless I have a genuine safety concern, and I will tell you if I do.”
2. Child Pledge: “I promise to keep my accounts private, only accept friend requests from people I know in real life, and tell you immediately if someone makes me uncomfortable.”

This approach builds trust whilst maintaining necessary oversight of children’s privacy and safety.

Educating Yourself and Your Child About Children’s Privacy

Adequate protection of children’s privacy requires parents to understand both the technical aspects of platform settings and the psychological factors that influence children’s online behaviour.

Understanding Platform Privacy Policies

Each social media platform publishes a privacy policy explaining what data it collects and how it uses it. Whilst these documents are lengthy, parents should review sections specifically about children’s data, location tracking, and third-party data sharing.

The ICO website (ico.org.uk) provides summaries of how the Children’s Code affects major platforms, making this research more manageable.

Teaching Critical Thinking About Sharing

Children need frameworks for deciding what to share online. Ask questions like: “Would you be comfortable if your teacher saw this?” or “Does this photo reveal where we live?” These prompts help children develop their own judgment about children’s privacy rather than relying solely on parental approval.

Explain that nothing posted online is truly temporary, despite features like Snapchat’s disappearing messages. Screenshots, screen recordings, and platform data retention mean content persists beyond its apparent deletion.

Recognising Manipulation Tactics

Teach children to recognise when someone is attempting to manipulate them into sharing private information. Warning signs include:

1. Requests for personal information early in the conversation.
2. Attempts to move the conversation from public platforms to private messaging.
3. Asking for photos or videos.
4. Suggesting keeping the relationship secret from parents.
5. Creating urgency or pressure to respond immediately.

Setting and Enforcing Strict Privacy Settings

Technical privacy settings form the foundation of protecting children’s privacy online. These settings require regular review as platforms update their interfaces and children create new accounts.

Account Privacy Baseline

Every social media account your child uses should begin with maximum privacy settings. Profile visibility should be set to private or friends-only, preventing public access to posts, photos, and personal information. Location services should be disabled entirely unless specifically needed for a feature, and even then, set to “While Using App” rather than “Always.”

Contact permissions should restrict who can send messages, make friend requests, and tag your child in content. Most platforms allow you to limit these to existing friends or require your child’s approval.

Regular Settings Audits

Privacy settings do not remain static. Platforms release updates that can reset settings to defaults or introduce new privacy options. Schedule monthly reviews of your child’s privacy settings across all platforms.

During these audits, check:

1. Profile visibility (private vs public).
2. Location services status.
3. Who can contact your child.
4. Recent login locations.
5. Connected third-party apps.
6. Followers and friend lists.

Age-Appropriate Access Controls

The Children’s Code mandates age-appropriate defaults, but parents can implement additional controls. For children under 13, consider using restricted modes that limit features like direct messaging, live streaming, and content discovery.

For teenagers, gradually expand access as they demonstrate responsible behaviour, maintaining oversight of children’s privacy whilst granting appropriate independence.

Monitoring Your Child’s Online Activity

Effective monitoring balances safety oversight with respect for children’s privacy and developing autonomy. The goal is to detect problems early whilst maintaining the trust necessary for children to report issues voluntarily.

What to Monitor

Focus monitoring efforts on behavioural changes rather than reading every message. Significant changes in mood after using social media, secretive behaviour around devices, or reluctance to discuss online activities warrant investigation.

Review follower and friend lists periodically, looking for accounts your child cannot identify or profiles that appear to belong to adults rather than peers. Check privacy settings and location history to ensure your child has not inadvertently shared sensitive information.

Monitoring Tools and Approaches

Most platforms offer parental oversight features. Instagram’s Supervision Tools enable parents to view the amount of time their teen spends on Instagram, set time limits, and track who follows them. TikTok’s Family Pairing feature provides similar capabilities. These tools respect children’s privacy whilst providing necessary oversight.

For younger children, consider devices with built-in parental controls. Apple’s Screen Time and Google Family Link allow time limits, app restrictions, and purchase controls across devices.

Building Trust Through Transparency

Tell your child what you are monitoring and why. Explain that you are not reading private conversations with friends unless you have specific safety concerns. Still, you do need to verify that privacy settings remain active and that their followers list contains only known individuals.

This transparency maintains trust whilst fulfilling your responsibility to protect children’s privacy and safety.

Encouraging Open Communication About Children’s Privacy

Sustained protection of children’s privacy requires ongoing dialogue rather than a single conversation. Children need to feel comfortable reporting problems without fearing punishment or device confiscation.

Creating Safe Reporting Channels

Establish clear protocols for what your child should do if something concerning happens online. Whether someone requests personal information, shares inappropriate content, or makes them uncomfortable, children need to know they can report it without negative consequences.

Reassure them that reporting is not “tattling” but rather seeking help with a situation beyond their capacity to handle alone.

Regular Privacy Check-ins

Make children’s privacy a regular discussion topic rather than only addressing it when problems arise. During family meals or car journeys, ask questions like “Have you had any friend requests from people you don’t know this week?” or “Has anyone asked you to keep conversations secret?”

These casual check-ins normalise discussion of online experiences and make it easier for children to raise concerns.

Validating Concerns Without Overreacting

When children report concerning incidents, respond calmly and focus on problem-solving rather than punishment. If your child accepted a friend request from a stranger, discuss why this is risky and remove the connection together rather than confiscating the device.

Overreaction makes children reluctant to report future incidents, leaving them to handle potentially dangerous situations alone.

Using Parental Controls to Protect Children’s Privacy

Parental controls supplement privacy settings by restricting access, limiting screen time, and filtering content. These tools are most effective when used in conjunction with education about children’s privacy, rather than serving as the sole protection mechanism.

Platform-Specific Parental Controls

Instagram offers Supervision Tools that allow parents to set daily time limits, schedule breaks, and view account activity without accessing private messages. Parents can see who their teen follows and who follows them, providing oversight of children’s privacy without invasive surveillance.

TikTok’s Family Pairing feature links parent and teen accounts, allowing for screen time management, restricted mode activation, and search limitations. Parents can disable direct messaging entirely for accounts linked to children under 16.

YouTube offers Supervised Experiences with three content levels: Explore (suitable for ages 9+), Explore More (for ages 13+), and Most of YouTube (for ages 13+). These settings filter content whilst allowing age-appropriate access.

Device-Level Controls

Apple’s Screen Time feature enables parents to control when and how children use their devices. You can set time limits for app categories, schedule downtime, and restrict specific features, such as app installation or location sharing. Content restrictions filter explicit music, films, and books.

Google Family Link provides similar functionality for Android devices, allowing parents to approve or block app downloads, set screen time limits, and view activity reports. Location tracking shows the current location of your child’s device.

Router-Level Protections

Home router settings can filter content across all connected devices, providing a safety net when device-level controls are bypassed. Many modern routers include parental control features that block adult content, limit access to specific websites, and enforce time-based restrictions.

This approach protects children’s privacy by preventing access to sites that might request personal information or expose children to inappropriate content.

Limiting Time Spent on Social Media

Excessive social media use poses significant privacy risks by increasing exposure to potential threats and reducing the time available for offline activities that support healthy development. Time limits reduce risk whilst maintaining the social benefits children derive from these platforms.

Evidence-Based Time Recommendations

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health recommends families negotiate screen time limits based on whether use interferes with sleep, physical activity, family time, or schoolwork. Ofcom’s 2024 research found that UK children aged 8-17 spend an average of 3 hours daily on social media.

Consider implementing the “one hour per year of age” guideline as a starting point, adjusting based on your child’s maturity and behaviour. A 12-year-old might reasonably use social media for 1-1.5 hours daily, whilst a 16-year-old might handle 2-2.5 hours responsibly.

Implementing Time Limits Effectively

Use built-in platform features and device controls to enforce limits rather than relying solely on verbal agreements. Set time limits that include grace periods, allowing children to finish conversations or posts before apps lock.

Schedule device-free times during meals, homework, and the hour before bed. Research consistently shows that screen use before sleep disrupts rest quality, affecting concentration and mood.

Balancing Access and Protection

Time limits should not feel punitive but rather ensure balanced lives. Frame restrictions as protecting time for other important activities, such as sports, hobbies, and face-to-face friendships, rather than as a distrust of your child’s judgment.

When children demonstrate responsible use and maintain good privacy practices, consider modest increases in allowed time as recognition of their maturity.

Navigating Specific Social Media Platforms

Each platform presents unique privacy challenges requiring tailored approaches. The following guidance covers the platforms most used by UK children and teenagers, with specific attention to settings that protect children’s privacy.

Instagram

Instagram remains highly popular with 63% of UK teenagers using the platform. Meta’s implementation of the Children’s Code means UK users under 18 automatically receive private accounts, but additional protections strengthen children’s privacy.

Navigate to Settings → Privacy to configure essential protections. Set Account Privacy to Private, requiring your child to approve each follower. Under Interactions, restrict comments to “People You Follow” to prevent harassment. Disable “Allow Sharing” under Posts to prevent others from sharing your child’s content.

Under Location, ensure “Add Location” remains disabled for posts. Navigate to Settings → Security → Access Data → Account Activity to review login locations and ensure your child’s account has not been accessed from unexpected places.

For children under 16, Instagram restricts advertisers from targeting based on activity outside Instagram. Parents can further limit data collection by disabling “Activity Off-Meta Technologies” in Settings → Account Centre → Your Information and Permissions.

TikTok

TikTok’s popularity with 71% of UK teenagers makes understanding its privacy settings essential. The platform defaults to private accounts for users under 18, but additional settings further enhance children’s privacy protection.

In Settings and Privacy → Privacy, verify Account Privacy is set to Private. Under Safety, restrict Who Can View Your Videos to “Only Me” or “Friends” rather than “Everyone.” Set Who Can Send You Direct Messages to “Friends” to prevent unwanted contact.

Disable “Suggest Your Account to Others” under Privacy → Suggest Your Account to Others to prevent TikTok from recommending your child’s profile to strangers. Under Personalisation and Data, disable “Ads Personalisation” to limit targeted advertising based on your child’s activity.

Family Pairing allows parents to link their account with their child’s account, enabling screen time management, restricted mode, and control over who can view their videos. Access this through Settings and Privacy → Family Pairing.

Snapchat

Snapchat’s disappearing message feature creates a false sense of security, as recipients can screenshot or screen record content. Seventy-eight per cent of 13-15-year-olds in the UK use Snapchat, making privacy configuration essential.

Open Settings (tap your profile icon, then the gear icon). Under “Who Can…”, select “Contact Me” and change it to “My Friends.” Set View My Story to “My Friends” rather than “Everyone.” Under See Me in Quick Add, select “Only Friends of Friends” or disable it entirely.

Snap Map broadcasts your child’s location to friends. Tap the map icon, then the gear icon, and select Ghost Mode to prevent location sharing. Alternatively, restrict visibility to selected friends only.

Under Privacy Control → Memories, enable “My Eyes Only” for sensitive saved content, requiring a passcode to access. This protects children’s privacy if the device falls into the hands of others.

Facebook

Whilst Facebook’s popularity has declined among UK teenagers, many still maintain accounts. Navigate to Settings & Privacy → Settings → Privacy to configure protections.

Set “Who can see your future posts?” to Friends rather than Public. Under “Who can see your friends list?” select “Only me” to prevent strangers from identifying your child’s connections. Under Profile and Tagging, set “Who can post on your profile?” to “Only me” or “Friends” and review posts others tag you in before they appear.

Navigate to Settings → Location and ensure Location History remains off. Under Face Recognition (if available in the UK), disable to prevent Facebook from creating facial recognition profiles.

Review Settings → Apps and Websites regularly to remove third-party applications your child connected to Facebook, as these often request extensive personal data.

Twitter (X)

Twitter requires users to be at least 13. Navigate to Settings and Support → Settings and Privacy → Privacy and Safety to configure protections.

Enable “Protect your Tweets” to make your child’s account private, requiring approval for each follower. Under “Photo Tagging,” select “Only people you follow” to control who can tag your child in photos. Disable “Let others find you by your email address” and “Let others find you by your phone number” under “Discoverability and Contacts.”

Navigate to “Content you see” and enable quality filters to reduce abusive or low-quality content. Under “Muted,” add keywords related to topics you want to filter from your child’s timeline.

Review Settings → Your Account → Account Information → Apps and Sessions regularly to see which devices and applications access the account, revoking any unrecognised connections.

Gaming Platforms: The Hidden Social Networks

For children under 13, gaming platforms have become the primary social spaces, replacing traditional social media. Your child may not have Instagram, but they are likely chatting on Roblox, Discord, or Fortnite. These platforms require the same level of privacy attention as conventional social media.

Roblox

Roblox attracts over 7 million monthly UK users, primarily aged 7-13. The platform combines gaming with social interaction through chat features, direct messaging, and player-to-player trading. Protecting children’s privacy on Roblox requires understanding its unique features.

Navigate to Settings → Privacy. For children under 13, enable Account Restrictions, which limits chat to pre-approved phrases only. This prevents your child from sharing personal information or reading inappropriate messages from other players.

Under Privacy Settings, set Who Can Message Me to “Friends” rather than “Everyone.” Set Who Can Chat With Me In App to “Friends” and Who Can Chat With Me In Game to “Friends.” Disable Voice Chat and Enable Spatial Voice entirely, as these features enable real-time conversations with strangers.

Set a Parent PIN in Settings → Security. This four-digit PIN prevents children from changing privacy settings without parental approval. Enable Two-Step Verification using your email address to prevent unauthorised account access.

Review your child’s friend list regularly through the Friends tab. If your child cannot identify someone in real life, remove them. Roblox’s trading system has been exploited for scams, so consider disabling trading through Privacy Settings → Other Settings → Trade.

Discord

Discord’s minimum age is 13, though younger children frequently use it for school group chats and gaming coordination. The platform operates as a communication hub rather than traditional social media, but privacy risks remain significant.

Navigate to User Settings (gear icon) → Privacy & Safety. Set Allow Direct Messages From Server Members to disabled to prevent strangers from contacting your child through shared servers. Under Who Can Add You As A Friend, select “Only Friends of Friends” or disable it entirely.

Under Privacy & Safety → Server Privacy Defaults, set Direct Messages to “Only Friends” to prevent anyone from messaging your child unless they are approved friends. Enable Explicit Image Filter and set to “Scan All Direct Messages” to block inappropriate images automatically.

Discord servers range from small groups of friends to communities with thousands of anonymous users. Review which servers your child has joined through the left sidebar. Discuss each server’s purpose and consider leaving any with primarily adult membership or unclear moderation.

Voice channels enable real-time conversations, including those with strangers. Discuss with your child which servers they should use voice chat in, limiting it to known friend groups rather than public servers.

Fortnite

Fortnite’s PEGI 12 rating does not prevent younger children from playing. Epic Games provides parental controls at epicgames.com/account/password, where parents can link their account to their child’s for remote monitoring and control.

In Fortnite’s settings, navigate to Audio and set Voice Chat to Off or “Friends Only.” Under Social settings, set Text Chat to Off or “Friends Only.” Enable Hide Player Names to prevent others from identifying your child.

Through Epic Games’ web-based parental controls, you can set time limits, restrict which features your child can access, and require PIN entry for specific actions. Set the maturity rating filter to age-appropriate levels and require PIN approval for social features, such as voice chat.

Review your child’s friend list periodically through the Epic Games launcher. If your child cannot explain who someone is, consider removing them. Encourage your child only to accept friend requests from classmates and real-life friends.

The Invisible Risks: Metadata and Digital Footprints

Beyond visible privacy settings, technical data embedded in files and collected by platforms creates lasting privacy implications for children that most parents and children do not consider.

EXIF Data: The Hidden Location Tracker

Every photo taken on a smartphone embeds metadata called EXIF data, which often includes GPS coordinates pinpointing precisely where the photo was taken, the device model and serial number, date and timestamp, and camera settings. When your child posts a selfie from their bedroom, they may inadvertently broadcast their exact home address to anyone who views the image and extracts this metadata.

Most social media platforms automatically strip EXIF data when photos are uploaded, but not all do. Messaging apps and photo-sharing services may preserve this information. Check whether a photo contains location data on iPhone by opening the Photos app, selecting the image, swiping up, and looking for a location map. On Android, open the Gallery, view the Photo Details, and check for the Location.

To prevent location data from being added to photos, disable it at the source. On iPhone, navigate to Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Camera and set to “Never.” On Android, open the Camera app, access Settings, and disable “Save location.”

When sharing photos through apps that do not automatically strip EXIF data, use the share menu’s “Remove Location” option before sending. Teaching children about EXIF data helps them understand that children’s privacy extends beyond what is visible in the image itself.

AI Scraping and Data Training

In 2024, Meta confirmed that they uses public Instagram and Facebook posts to train artificial intelligence models. This means your child’s photos may be used without explicit consent beyond accepting platform terms, their writing style analysed to improve AI systems, and their face included in facial recognition datasets.

The ICO’s Children’s Code restricts some of this use for UK children’s accounts, but international platforms may apply different standards. Protection requires setting all social media profiles to Private, preventing public access to content. Some platforms offer opt-out mechanisms: on Instagram, navigate to Settings → About → Privacy Policy → Right to Object and submit a request.

Discuss with your child that AI training systems, search engines, and data aggregation companies may collect anything posted publicly. This reality underscores the importance of maintaining private accounts in protecting children’s privacy.

Digital Footprint Permanence

Children often believe that deleted content disappears entirely, but the reality is more complex. Social media platforms retain content even after deletion for varying periods, sometimes indefinitely. Other users may have taken a screenshot or saved content before deletion. Search engines cache pages, preserving older versions of profiles.

Teach children that digital footprints are permanent and that maintaining children’s privacy requires careful consideration before posting rather than relying on deletion. Ask questions like “Would I be comfortable if this was still online in 10 years?” and “Could this content embarrass me later or affect university applications and job prospects?”

Additional Measures for Ensuring Children’s Privacy

Beyond platform-specific settings and conversations, several broader strategies strengthen the protection of children’s privacy across their entire digital presence.

Know the Legal Age Restrictions

Each platform sets minimum age requirements based on UK law and their own policies. Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter require users to be at least 13. WhatsApp requires 16 in the UK. Discord’s minimum age is 13. These restrictions exist because younger children lack the maturity to navigate privacy decisions and because GDPR restricts data processing for children under specific ages.

If your child has accounts created before reaching the minimum age, platforms may delete them if discovered. More importantly, children below minimum ages lack the developmental capacity to understand privacy implications, making parental oversight an insufficient substitute for age-appropriate maturity.

Understanding COPPA and UK Equivalents

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) applies in the United States but does not govern UK platforms. The UK equivalent is the Age Appropriate Design Code (Children’s Code), which provides stronger protections by requiring privacy by default rather than merely restricting data collection.

Familiarising yourself with the Children’s Code helps you understand what platforms must do to protect UK children’s privacy. The ICO website provides clear and accessible explanations of the requirements and your rights as a parent.

Regular Privacy Settings and Follower Reviews

Privacy settings do not maintain themselves. Schedule monthly reviews across all platforms your child uses. Check that private account status remains active, location services stay disabled, follower lists contain only known individuals, and no suspicious login activity appears in account security logs.

Review your child’s follower list together, asking them to identify each person. Remove anything that they cannot clearly identify or that makes them uncomfortable. This process also prompts discussions about who should have access to their content.

Ongoing Discussions About Children’s Privacy

Privacy is not a single conversation but an ongoing dialogue adapting as your child matures and as platforms change. Regular discussions about children’s privacy normalise the topic and make it easier for children to raise concerns.

Ask about their online experiences, discuss news stories about privacy breaches or child safety incidents, and involve them in family decisions about privacy practices. This approach builds their judgement and maintains the open communication essential for protecting children’s privacy.

Protecting Children’s Privacy: Moving Forward

Safeguarding children’s privacy on social media requires vigilance, technical knowledge, and trust-based communication. The combination of UK legal protections through the Children’s Code and Online Safety Act, proper platform privacy settings, parental controls, and educated children creates a layered defence against privacy risks.

Begin with the Quick Settings Audit:

1. Verify all social media accounts are set to Private.
2. Disable location services for all social apps.
3. Restrict messaging to approved friends only.
4. Enable platform parental controls where available.
5. Set device-level screen time limits.
6. Review follower lists and remove unknown accounts.
7. Disable voice and video chat with strangers on gaming platforms.

Schedule this audit monthly and involve your child in the process. Explain why each setting matters for protecting children’s privacy rather than simply imposing controls.

Remember that technology evolves rapidly. New platforms emerge, existing platforms add features, and children discover workarounds. Maintaining children’s privacy requires adaptability and ongoing learning from both parents and children.

The goal is not to prevent all social media use, but rather to ensure that when children do use these platforms, their privacy remains protected through the use of appropriate settings, informed decision-making, and open communication with parents they trust. This foundation protects children’s privacy whilst allowing them to develop the digital literacy necessary for adult life.

By implementing these strategies, maintaining regular oversight, and fostering open dialogue about children’s privacy, you create an environment where your child can safely navigate social media whilst developing the judgment to protect their own privacy as they mature.