The latest Information Commissioner’s Office research reveals a growing gap between children’s online lives and parental confidence.
The ICO’s research, published on 19 August 2026, draws on an online survey of more than 4,000 children aged eight to 17 and their parents, as well as in-depth family research. It reveals that children’s online worlds can extend well beyond what adults see or expect.
Parental controls
More than a third of children said they talk or play online with people they have never met – and that rises to 40% among 14 to 16-year-olds. Parental controls are widely used, with 91% of parents reporting that they use controls or monitoring tools.
However, children are not necessarily passive users of those safeguards. In fact, 41% said they had tried to get around them, and almost half of them said it had been easy. This illustrates that a technical solution alone cannot keep pace with children’s changing habits, platforms and confidence online.
Age restrictions
Age restrictions present another challenge. More than half of the children surveyed (52%) said they would find a way around an age check if they wanted access to a service. This rose to 64% among children whose parents had previously helped them bypass an age limit. Nearly a third of parents (31%) said they had done this.
Independence and privacy
The research also exposes the emotional tension behind family decisions about privacy. Parents described trying to balance their children’s growing independence with the reassurance provided by digital visibility. Location sharing, in particular, was portrayed as a “digital umbilical cord” – a kind of trade-off where families may accept extensive data collection just to feel safer and more connected.
Online safety conversations are key
The ICO states that conversations should start early, rather than waiting until children reach secondary school.
Its Switched on to privacy campaign offers a straightforward framework of chat, choose and check. Families are encouraged to talk openly about online experiences, select privacy settings together and revisit those choices as children grow and technologies change.
