Safety of Minors on Social Media Websites

Safety of minors is one of the focus of parents and any social media company. Companies strive to design and improve safety policies to combat online abuse involving minors. However, parents play a much more critical role in the online safety of their children. The study explores parents’ perception of social media risks and their level of awareness about minor safety on these platforms based on qualitative interviews conducted with 25 Italian parents. The results indicate that mothers are keener to use restrictions compared to fathers, most educated parents display more awareness as well as more trust in institutions and schools, whilst older parents are less likely to use mitigation strategies on their children, admitting their lack of ability to approach new technologies. For this reason, more support should be provided by institutions or social media platforms to parents less technical savvy, who do feel left behind new technological trends.