Switched onto Privacy Campaign
Tuesday 5th May 2026
Information Commissioner’s Office – ‘Switched on to privacy’
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) launched a new campaign that builds on existing work undertaken by schools to teach children and young people about online safety as part of the curriculum, extending that work into the home by giving parents and carers simple, practical tools to have regular conversations about online privacy with their children.
Switched on to privacy aims to help parents and carers of 4–11-year-olds talk to their children about online privacy. Just as parents would talk with their children about road safety or speaking with strangers, online privacy is another life skill children need as they grow up. Small, regular conversations can help children understand what personal information is, how it’s used, and how to make safer choices online. The ICO have produced a toolkit that includes content that settings, family-facing groups and others can use to support this campaign locally. The toolkit contains ready-to-use resources to help you support the campaign quickly and confidently.
Growing up in the online work, government consultation
The Government are consulting on further measures to prepare children for the future in an age of rapid technological change. This includes potential age restrictions on social media and other services such as gaming sites and AI chatbots, restrictions on addictive design features and risky functionalities, and better support for parents and families.
The consultation will consider how children use digital technology as well as measures including: setting a minimum age for children to access social media - and what age would be right; restricting risky functionalities and design features that encourage excessive use, such as infinite scrolling and autoplay; whether the digital age of consent should be raised; how age verification and age assurance technologies can support effective implementation; whether the guidance on the use of mobile phones in schools should be put on a statutory footing and; better support for parents, including clearer guidance and simpler parental controls.
The links provided below takes you to the full consultation details and 3 survey links:
- Full consultation for anyone (civil society, industry and members of the public)
- Survey for parents and carers of young people aged 21 and under
- Survey for children and young people (aged 10 to 21)
This consultation closes at 11:59pm on 26 May 2026
The Consultation
The consultation will consider how children use digital technology as well as measures including:
- setting a minimum age for children to access social media - and what age would be right
- restricting risky functionalities and design features that encourage excessive use, such as infinite scrolling and autoplay
- whether the digital age of consent should be raised
how age verification and age assurance technologies can support effective implementation
whether the guidance on the use of mobile phones in schools should be put on a statutory footing - better support for parents, including clearer guidance and simpler parental controls
Links and useful resources:
Campaign resources for schools, early years settings and education organisations | ICO
Growing up in the online world: a national consultation - GOV.UK
