What is Protect Children Online?
Privacy and safety practices for protecting minors from online threats including data collection by apps and platforms, social media exploitation, sextortion, cyberbullying, and predatory content targeting — a growing concern as children's screen time and digital exposure increase.
Also known as: Children's Online Safety, Kids Online Privacy, Child Internet Safety
Children are the most vulnerable population online — they generate data that follows them for life, they're targeted by predators and scammers, and they lack the judgment to make informed privacy decisions. Protecting them requires both technical measures and ongoing education.
What's Being Collected About Your Kids
By Schools
- Learning management systems track academic performance
- Google Classroom/Chromebooks log all activity
- Surveillance software monitors student devices
- Behavioral assessments and counseling records (digitized)
By Apps and Games
- Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft: Chat logs, play patterns, purchase history, social connections
- YouTube Kids: Viewing history used for content recommendations (and until recently, targeted ads)
- TikTok: Biometric data, viewing patterns, location, device data — FTC fined TikTok $5.7M for COPPA violations
By Social Media
- Everything posted creates a permanent digital record that follows them into adulthood
- Photos shared by parents ("sharenting") create a digital footprint before the child can consent
- Facial recognition databases include children's photos
Current Threats
Sextortion (Exploding Threat)
- Predators target minors on Instagram, Snapchat, and gaming platforms
- Manipulate children into sharing explicit images, then demand money or more images
- FBI reports a 300%+ increase in minor sextortion cases
- Multiple teen suicides linked to sextortion
Data Exploitation
- Children's data is collected and used for behavioral profiling from birth
- By age 13, advertisers have an estimated 72 million data points on an average child
- This data affects future insurance rates, college admissions, and employment
AI-Generated Threats
- Deepfake technology used to create explicit images of minors from social media photos
- AI chatbots can be used to groom children
- Voice cloning technology can impersonate parents or friends
Protection Strategies
Technical Controls
- Set up parental controls — Screen time limits, content filtering, app restrictions
- Use privacy-focused services — DuckDuckGo for search, Signal for messaging
- Review app permissions — Remove unnecessary camera, microphone, and location access
- Create child accounts with limited privileges rather than using adult accounts
- Disable ad tracking on all devices
Education (Most Important)
- Talk about online safety — Age-appropriate conversations about strangers, sharing, and pressure
- Teach them about privacy — "Don't share personal information" is the foundation
- Establish rules together — Not just restrictions but understanding why
- Create a safe reporting environment — Children must feel safe telling you if something goes wrong
- Model good behavior — If you share their photos online constantly, they learn that privacy doesn't matter
Legal Protections
- COPPA: Requires parental consent for data collection from children under 13
- Kids Online Safety Act: Requires platforms to provide safety settings for minors
- GDPR: Requires parental consent for processing children's data (age varies by country, 13-16)
- Report exploitation to NCMEC CyberTipline (missingkids.org) and FBI
Related Terms
App Permissions
Controls that determine what data and device features an app can access, including contacts, camera, microphone, location, and storage.
COPPA
The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, a US federal law that regulates the collection of personal information from children under 13.
Kids Online Safety Act
Proposed US legislation (KOSA) requiring platforms to protect minors from harmful content online — raising concerns about age verification mandates, content censorship, and the creation of new surveillance infrastructure.
Privacy for Families
Protecting the digital privacy of your entire family — including children who can't consent to data collection, teens navigating social media, and elderly family members vulnerable to scams.
Sextortion
A form of blackmail where criminals threaten to share intimate images, videos, or sexual information about a victim unless they pay money, provide more explicit content, or comply with other demands. It affects adults and minors and is one of the fastest-growing cybercrimes.
Have more questions?
Use our guided flow to get the right next privacy step for Protect Children Online.
Open Guided Flow