ICO urges parents to treat online privacy like road safety
ICO urges parents to treat online privacy like road safety
Publish Date: 2026-04-07 04:36:00
Source Domain: www.decisionmarketing.co.uk
The Information Commissioner’s Office is calling on parents to treat their children’s online privacy like road safety and stranger danger as part of a major new campaign designed to “start simple conversations about protecting their personal information online”.
The “Switched on to Privacy Campaign” has also triggered calls from the children’s commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza to not to let tech companies “off the hook” and force them to prioritise children’s safety.
The move coincides with the publication of new research which reveals three-quarters of parents fear their child cannot make safe online privacy choices, with over a third (35%) believing their child would “share personal information in exchange for game tokens or rewards”.
The study, which quizzed 1,000 UK parents with children aged four to 11 years, also found that 22% of children have shared personal information such as health details with AI tools and 24% have shared their real name or address online, with eight and nine-year-olds most at risk.
While the most obvious elements include children’s name, age, and where they live, the ICO is warning parents that revealing browsing history, purchases, photos, voice notes and social media or gaming activity is just as potentially damaging.
The regulator said a single click could “unveil friendships, interests, moods and even sleep patterns, creating a digital footprint that can last forever – or even be exploited by people with bad intentions”.
It added that “many parents feel underprepared”, with 46% of survey respondents stating they “don’t feel confident protecting their children’s privacy online”, 44% “try but aren’t sure they’re doing enough” and 42% “probably don’t spend enough time checking their child’s privacy settings”.
The ICO’s research suggests online privacy is one of the “least discussed online safety topics”, with 21% of parents having never spoken to their…
