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Simfin

online safety and digital citizenship specialist

 Tagged with digital citizenship


09 May 2025

This is an annual report.
Ofcom has had duties to promote and research media literacy since 2003. Ofcom defines media literacy as being the ability to use, understand and create media and communications across multiple formats and services.

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26 August 2024

EE, which is owned by BT, said it aims to improve children's "digital wellbeing" after receiving increasing requests for guidance from parents.

It said that under-11s should be given "non-smart" devices that have similar capabilities as old brick phones.

The recommendation - announced for the start of the new school year - comes amid growing concern about the effects of smartphone and internet usage on children's mental health and behaviour.

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09 August 2024

Two men have been jailed for stirring up hatred on social media during widespread disorder across parts of the UK.

Tyler Kay, 26, was sentenced to 38 months in prison for publishing "utterly repulsive, racist" posts on X.

Jordan Parlour, 28, received a 20-month prison sentence for publishing written material intended to stir racial hatred on Facebook.

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19 April 2024

When Ofcom first commissioned this longitudinal study 10 years ago, several of the children in this year’s research weren’t yet born. It was 2014, later dubbed the “year of the selfie”1 in the wake of that year’s icebucket challenge2, the #nomakeupselfie3 and the “selfie that broke Twitter”. A year of laughs, cold-water gasps, attempts at authenticity and a group of famous people who took their own picture at the Oscars.

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19 April 2024

Nearly a quarter of UK five-to-seven-year-olds now have their own smartphone, Ofcom research suggests.

Social media use also rose in the age group over last year with nearly two in five using messaging service WhatsApp, despite its minimum age of 13.

The communications regulator warned parental enforcement of rules "appeared to be diminishing."

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