BBC launches website to teach children about online safety
The BBC has launched a new website for children, which will be delivered in partnership with groups working on child internet safety, and which will be supported by advisers and doctors. The Own It site is part of a broader £34m ($45.5m) investment by the BBC in children’s programming over the next three years. BBC Director-General, Tony Hall, said that the corporation needed to “minimise the risks” to children “growing up in a fully connected world”. The site, which will be available from 6 December, will deal with issues including malware and online privacy.

Tony Hall, the director-general of the BBC, has said the corporation can help “minimise the risks” for children in the digital world, as he announced its new website for nine to 12-year-olds.

The site, called Own It, is the first product to be launched as part of the corporation’s £34m investment in children’s programming over the next three years.

Hall said the BBC’s intervention would “maximise the amazing opportunities for children growing up in a fully connected world – but we must also take steps to minimise the risks”.

Own It will be delivered in partnership with a range of organisations in the field of child internet safety, and is supported by an “engine room” of expert advisers, doctors and academics.

Hall said there were many important issues facing children today. “Is there a right age for children to give informed consent for their data to be used online? What responsibility should organisations have to make sure their platform is right for the age range that are really using it?”

Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat require users to be at least 13. To create an account, users are asked for their date of birth, although Hall said the restriction was often flouted. On Snapchat, under-13s are redirected to a children’s version, called SnapKidz.

“Two-thirds of 10-year-olds in this country have a social media account – but we all know that’s not supposed to happen until they’re 13,” Hall wrote.



Own It, which will be available from 6 December, covers everything from online privacy and avoiding malware, to dealing with everyday dilemmas children face online. It will sit alongside CBeebies and CBBC and quick links to charities and organisations like Childline will also be available.





The BBC was asked in March by Ofcom to produce more UK-commissioned programming for children. According to Ofcom, £77m was spent on first-run UK-originated children’s programming in 2015, down from £140m in 2005. The BBC is responsible for 97% of original UK-produced children’s programming.

Hall wrote in the Guardian: “Children’s programming helps define our identity as a nation, and while there are many imports we all enjoy from the US, no one wants our children’s culture defined in the west coast of America.

“That’s why we’re renewing our focus on creating programmes and other content for children across the UK, reflecting their own lives and experiences back to them.”

The BBC has saved £30m annually after scrapping the BBC3 TV channel aimed at 16 to 34-year-olds in favour of an online-only offering.