The U.S. and U.K. governments said Thursday they will create a joint children's online safety working group to cooperate on efforts to safeguard children in the digital world, by sharing evidence and expertise, as well as pushing for "common solutions" to child safety challenges.

A statement from both governments, published by U.S. Commerce secretary Gina Raimondo and U.K. Technology secretary Peter Kyle, also called on tech platforms to do even more and faster to safeguard children.

"As more children across the U.S. and around the globe have access to online platforms for online learning and social media, there is also increased risk to this exposure. That is why we are taking the necessary steps in the United States, and with our U.K. partners, to protect children's privacy, safety, and mental health," Raimondo said in a statement.

"We remain steadfast in combating youth online exploitation and through this landmark agreement, we are now equipped to prepare our children and youth better to thrive online at home and abroad."

"The online world holds amazing opportunities for children, developing their education and social life. However, these experiences should occur in an environment which is safe through design from the outset, not tacked on afterwards as an add-on. In this regard, implementing that goal is my top priority," Kyle states in another supporting statement.

International cooperation is critical: the digital world has no borders, and our other big work will be done with our international partners, including the United States--one of our closest allies and home to the biggest tech firms. This joint statement will push our historic partnership forward toward delivering a safer online world for our next generation.

It is one of the issues for which lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic have been focusing on for many years use of social media by children.

Over summer, the US Senate passed the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). KOSA would require the major online platforms to take reasonable measures to protect minors from harm by applying a "duty of care" which mitigates a range of child safety risks and limitations on what are termed addictive features.
In the UK, comprehensive online safety legislation is already on the statute books; since last fall.

The law in the U.K. framed itself particularly as especially necessary to secure kids from a range of online harms. However, most of those provisions are yet to bite on the likely thousands of in-scope platforms and services. After all, the country's Internet regulator, Ofcom is still in the process of consulting on compliance guidance, so the law isn't expected to take proper effect until next year.

Hence why, this year - when an outbreak of civil rest hit the country - Ofcom could only suggest social media platforms take a tougher line on disinformation and divisive content that was widely perceived to be whipping up the street violence. Since then, a number of minors have been prosecuted for taking part in the violent disorder — a factor that is only likely to have amped up lawmakers' concerns about social media's ability to exert a toxic pull on young developing minds.

While concern over the impact of social media on kids is a favorite among parents, too, U.S. and U.K. lawmakers note that there is a paucity of hard data, and that's exactly what the joint working group is set to address.
"Currently there is limited research and evidence on the causal impact that social media has on children and young people," the two governments said in a press release.

"Once established, the group will work on key areas, such as improving better transparency from platforms and consideration of researchers' access to privacy-preserving data on social media, helping understand impacts and risks of the digital world on young people, including new technologies such as generative AI."

Another appears to be trying to promote developing their individual safety tech sectors, where the U.K. pointed out a 2024 review of the sector, which it said showed overall revenue rose 37% last year - to £623 million.

It also said that the industry is expected to top £1 billion annually by 2025 or 2026 if this trend continues. That is, protecting children might go a long way in also feeding the UK's high-tech industries.

A central tenet of this approach is to ensure that safety is mainstreamed into the tech platforms and services from their design stages, through mutual collaboration on the shared implementation of solutions, assisted by international partners as part of the effort to "build a more secure digital world for young people," they added.