Children aged 11-17 Response to Exposure to Harmful Content

This chart from the Ofcom Children’s Online Safety Tracker 2025 examines how UK children (aged 11–17) behave after encountering harmful content. It compares the period before and after the UK Online Safety Act and Ofcom’s Children’s Codes were implemented. The data reveal that passivity remains the most prevalent response, with almost half of children (47%) choosing to ignore or scroll past the content. However, a significant and positive trend emerges in the area of safeguarding and adult intervention. Following the introduction of the new safety duties, there was a statistically significant increase in the proportion of children telling a grown-up about their negative experiences, rising from 10% to 15%. This suggests that the regulatory focus on safety, transparency, and digital literacy may successfully encourage adolescents to seek help from trusted adults rather than navigate digital harms alone. Conversely, the data show a decrease in 'evasive' private actions, such as deleting messages (falling to 1%) or leaving group chats (falling to 2%). Use of platform-provided safety tools, such as reporting (12%) and blocking (11%), remained relatively stable post-regulation.