Report: 79% of UK Children With Additional Needs Encounter Online Harm, Majority of All Children Do Not

A report by the online safety charity Internet Matters found that 79 per cent of children with additional needs have encountered harm online, compared with 63 per cent of children without additional needs. The research, seen exclusively by The Independent, also recorded exposure rates of 84 per cent among girls overall and 75 per cent among boys.

Girls with additional needs were exposed to self-harm content at a rate of 22 per cent, to content promoting unrealistic bodies at 29 per cent, and to hateful content such as sexism at 30 per cent.

The corresponding figures for boys with additional needs were 16 per cent, 21 per cent and 24 per cent. Children with additional needs were 18 per cent more likely to use AI chatbots than children without additional needs. Of those who used the tools, 50 per cent said they would have no concerns about following advice given by a chatbot.

The report defined additional needs as children who receive special educational needs support, hold an education health and care plan, or have a mental or physical disability that requires professional support. Campaigners said the term applies to one in five children in the UK.

Katie Freeman-Tayler, director of policy and research at Internet Matters, said girls with additional needs spend more time online than their peers and often report low mood and high anxiety.

She said this pattern, combined with platform design that shows more of the content users interact with, can lead to a cycle of harmful content. “Generally, children with additional needs spend more time online, and more time online correlates with exposure to more harmful content,” Freeman-Tayler said.

” She added that children with additional needs often use chatbots for companionship but can struggle to distinguish between a sycophantic AI response and a genuine human response.

Children with additional needs were nearly four times more likely to do something dangerous because of something they had seen online and around twice as likely to be bullied both by people they know in real life and by strangers. Freeman-Tayler said children with additional needs spend more time online and therefore get the best and the worst of online life, noting that online spaces are often where they feel confident and gain a measure of independence.

Internet Matters called on the government and regulator Ofcom to mandate robust age checks, stating that such measures are particularly important for children whose developmental age may be younger than their biological age.

The charity also said the government should ensure it is consistently reviewing legislation including the Online Safety Act. An Ofcom spokesperson said the regulator’s rules require a safety-first approach that includes tackling harmful algorithms, strong age checks, and stopping children being exposed to the most dangerous content.

The spokesperson added that tech firms that do not comply can expect enforcement action.

A government spokesperson said its recent consultation on social media restrictions for under-16s has received more than 100,000 responses on issues including the use of AI chatbots. The spokesperson added that the government is determined to act quickly because it knows the harms facing children online, but will do so in a way that is effective, enforceable and that works for all children, and that it already has the powers to act within months rather than years.