Jersey is facing a “public health emergency” as increasing numbers of young islanders are exposed to harmful online content – including self-harm, pornography, bullying, eating disorders, and violence, the former Channel Islands data protection commissioner has warned.
Emma Martins has called for clarity around “areas of concern” including the use of phones at school, and children and young people’s access to social media and the internet.
She was contributing to a review exploring what protection children in Jersey have from online harms being carried out by the Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel.
It last year emerged that Jersey’s Government had turned down Parliament’s offer to extend the UK Online Safety Act to the island in favour of creating its own legislation.
At the time, Scrutiny Panel Chair Deputy Catherine Curtis expressed her “disappointment” at the move, and her Panel has since launched a review to examine the measures in place to protect young islanders from online harm.
In a submission to the review, Jersey’s children’s rights watchdog warned that the island must introduce stricter laws to hold online platforms accountable for child safety and improve support for those who suffer harm online in a letter published last month.
And now, the former Channel Islands data protection commissioner has put forward her view.
Ms Martins wrote: “We should be in no doubt that we are in the midst of a public health emergency.
“Unlike other emergencies, this one is mostly hidden. Hidden from parents and carers, hidden from teachers and schools, hidden from law enforcement, and hidden from society.
“It is incumbent upon us all to bring the problem into the open. Only then will we be able to see with clear eyes the scale of what we are dealing with.”
Children “becoming addicted” and “being manipulated”
The data protection expert said that “rarely a week goes by” without a headline about teenage mental health, self-harm, suicide, extremism, pornography, bullying, sextortion, eating disorders, sexual violence, violence against teachers, or misinformation.
“These things, of course, pose risks to adults, but brain development during adolescence makes young people particularly susceptible and vulnerable,” she said.
Ms Martins, who has worked in data protection for more than 25 years, noted that there is “increasing and particular concern” about children and young people using social media platforms.
“Our children and young people are becoming addicted and are being manipulated by design,” she said.
“Their attention is being treated as a resource to be profited from. Can any of us think of another area of young people’s lives where such risk, exploitation and harms are accepted?
“It is both morally and legally unacceptable for any of us, particularly the young, to be commodified, yet that is the business model we have allowed to dominate our lives.”
“We need laws but we need more”
While Ms Martins acknowledged the need for improved legislation, she also called for “collective action”.
“We cannot enforce our way out of this,” she said. “We need laws but we need more.”
She added: “The scale of the harms and the pace of continued developments mean that we cannot afford to sit and wait, either to see harms manifest themselves more profoundly and overtly, or to assess what others are doing about the challenge.
“The digital revolution is moving faster than norms, values, laws and research can keep up with.”
Ms Martins noted that, as a small jurisdiction, Jersey can be “nimble” and “responsive” – “but that requires us to be proactive, deliberate and thoughtful and to unite in a common aim”.
She added: “Jersey also prides itself on its independence and this is an opportunity for us to be clear about what we want (and don’t want) for our children and young people and to put that into action.
“In this, our children are not, as they are in so many other areas of their lives, protected from harms beyond our borders.”
“Parents are completely over-faced”
The data protection expert called for digital literacy to be embedded into education from a young age.
“Half an hour ‘online safety’ or PSHE every so often is simply not good enough,” she said.
“It smacks of box-ticking rather than meaningful engagement.”
Ms Martins also said that parents are “desperate” for “leadership, support, and action”.
She explained: “There is much talk of the need for parents to step up and take responsibility, but they cannot do so without broader support.
“Parents are completely over-faced. Rather than look to blame them, let’s try and come together as a community to help empower them and protect children.”
She added that those building products used by children should demonstrate and evidence that they are safe – but noted that “this is not happening”.
“Big tech has no incentive to move from the business model which has made them amongst the richest people/businesses on the planet,” she said.
“There is too much at stake”
Ms Martins concluded: “This is, without doubt, an enormous challenge for this government, as it is for all governments, but there is too much at stake for us to simply shrug our shoulders and say it is too difficult.
“If it hasn’t happened already, a child living in Jersey will come to harm as a direct result of the online world they inhabit.
“My question for all of us, not only our government, is this – if (when?) that happens, will we be able to look that child’s parents in the eye and say that we all did everything we could?
“Decisions taken, (and, crucially, not taken) will have enormous consequences for individuals and society for many years to come. History will judge us.”
READ MORE…
Sexual photos or videos sent online to almost a third of young girls in Jersey
Tougher online safety laws needed to protect Jersey children, warns watchdog
FOCUS: Why are so many women afraid to take violent crime complaints forward?
Minister unveils plans to crack down on cyber-flashing and cyber-stalking
Minister aims to put stalking and strangulation offences into law
“Emotional abuse isn’t seen as serious enough for the police”
Bailiff: “The courts take violence against women and girls very seriously indeed”
“Radical change” needed as report reveals “shocking” extent of violence towards women