THE government has been speaking to telecoms companies about how children can be better protected against online harms.
Assistant Children’s Minister Malcolm Ferey provided an update on the discussions, which began last year following a major review of by the Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel.
The panel looked at Jersey’s approach to online safety, with a focus on children
and young people.
It found that the Island’s current safeguards lagged behind those of comparable jurisdictions, “particularly in areas such as age verification, platform accountability, and cross-border enforcement”.
A consultation is currently open on legislation being developed to provide “stronger rights to get illegal content removed from social media, websites and search engines”.
The government had also previously stated it would be meeting local telecommunications providers “to further explore solutions to mitigate digital harms”.
Deputy Ferey yesterday told States Members that he had chaired a group of relevant ministers who met the telecommunication providers on 18 December.
“The focus of the discussion was understanding what steps each of the providers were taking to support parents to protect their children from online harms,” he continued.
“The wider global factors that represent challenges were also considered, and it was acknowledged that there are different responses from different jurisdictions to these threats.
“The meeting was viewed as positive and helpful, with a commitment to ensure regular contact is maintained between government and the telecommunication providers going forward.”
Deputy Ferey was providing the update in response to a question from Deputy Catherine Curtis, who chairs the Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel.
Deputy Curtis noted that the panel had heard from internet service providers “that they had no legal basis to block or filter dangerous content”, pointing out that “Jersey has no law similar to the Digital Economy Act 2017”.
She asked whether there was a plan “to bring in such a legal requirement”.
Deputy Ferey highlighted that the government had “agreed to do a gap analysis” to see where legislation “can be improved and enhanced in this area”.
But he added: “The telecom providers told us of the practical steps that parents can take, everything from having certain smartphones that can have restrictions placed on them, to home routers that can be filtered to remove harmful content before it gets into the home.
“But of course, these things have to be done by the individual, and training has to be given to show parents or guardians how to do that for a phone that they’re giving to a third party.”
