Every day, children as young as four years old tap “accept” on apps, games, and websites — rarely understanding what they’re agreeing to hand over. A single click can expose far more than a name. It can reveal friendships, interests, moods, and even sleep patterns, creating a digital footprint that can last a lifetime — or be exploited by people with dangerous intentions.
New research from the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) lays bare just how serious the problem has become, and how underprepared most families are to face it.
The Numbers Are Alarming
What children are already sharing:
- 24% of primary-aged children have shared their real name or address online, with eight and nine-year-olds most at risk
- 22% have shared personal information — including health details — with AI tools
- 35% of parents believe their child would share personal information in exchange for game tokens or rewards
How parents are falling short:
- 75% of parents fear their child cannot make safe online privacy choices
- 71% worry the information their child shares today could negatively affect their future
- 46% don’t feel confident protecting their children’s privacy online
- 44% say they try but aren’t sure they’re doing enough
- 42% say they probably don’t spend enough time checking their child’s privacy settings
And perhaps most striking of all — the silence:
- 21% of parents have never spoken to their children about online privacy
- 38% discuss it less than once a month
- By contrast, 90% of parents discussed screen time in the past month alone
A Conversation We’re Not Having
Online privacy ranks as one of the least discussed online safety topics between parents and children — despite being one of the most consequential. Where a child’s name, interests, and pictures are left unprotected, the risks are concrete and serious: unwanted contact from strangers, grooming, and radicalisation.
ICO Deputy Commissioner Emily Keaney put it plainly: “We wouldn’t expect our children to share their birthdays or address with a stranger in a shop, because we’d explain stranger danger to them from a very young age — but kids these days are growing up online.”
The parallel to offline safety is the entire point. Most parents would never skip the road safety talk or the stranger danger conversation. Yet the digital equivalent — arguably just as consequential in 2026 — goes unaddressed in millions of homes.
The ICO’s Answer: Switched On to Privacy
To close this gap, the ICO has launched Switched On to Privacy, a campaign aimed at parents of children aged four to eleven, designed to make online privacy conversations as routine as any other essential life lesson.
The campaign’s guidance is built around three straightforward steps:
- Chat regularly with your child about online privacy
- Choose carefully what personal information to share
- Check privacy settings on new devices and apps
The campaign hub — ico.org.uk/SwitchedOn — walks parents through each step with practical, age-appropriate guidance. It is backed by Barnardo’s, the NSPCC, Mumsnet, Internet Matters, and Children’s Commissioners across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
Notably, 88% of parents already agree that children should start learning about online privacy between the ages of four and eleven — meaning the desire is there. What’s been missing is the framework and confidence to act on it.
A Whole-Society Problem
The ICO is clear that parents cannot and should not bear this burden alone. Tech companies have a role — and the ICO has committed to continuing enforcement action to hold platforms accountable for how they handle children’s data. But accountability at the corporate level means little if children arrive at those platforms without any understanding of what they’re consenting to.
The goal, ultimately, is a generation of children who are not just protected by rules and regulations they can’t see, but who are digitally confident enough to make informed choices themselves — children who understand that behind every “accept” button is a decision about their own story, and who they’re willing to share it with.
