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Harmful sharenting in the UK: Protecting children from digital harm

Harmful sharenting in the UK: Protecting children from digital harm
Harmful sharenting in the UK: Protecting children from digital harm
Sharenting - the sharing of children’s personal
information by parents on social media - has
become a widespread practice. While often
well-intentioned, it exposes children to harm.
Examples include identity-related crimes,
harassment, cyberbullying, contact by strangers,
and privacy breaches. The ProTechThem
interdisciplinary research project brings
together social and computer science expertise
to investigate sharenting risks. The project
reveals that current regulations, platforms’
safety provisions, and parental cybersecurity
measures are insufficient to protect affected
children from digital harm. This brief outlines
key harms of sharenting and proposes
both evidence-based and actionable policy
recommendations for a safer digital future.
University of Southampton
Ugwudike, Pamela
2faf9318-093b-4396-9ba1-2291c8991bac
Roth, Silke
cd4e63d8-bd84-45c1-b317-5850d2a362b6
Lavorgna, Anita
6e34317e-2dda-42b9-8244-14747695598c
Middleton, Stuart E
404b62ba-d77e-476b-9775-32645b04473f
Djohari, Natalie
90a32268-7e26-45f3-bd47-db9d5a3250ce
Tartari, Morena
55f96a3d-ea75-4118-8a05-2b6f40ca7cd3
Ugwudike, Pamela
2faf9318-093b-4396-9ba1-2291c8991bac
Roth, Silke
cd4e63d8-bd84-45c1-b317-5850d2a362b6
Lavorgna, Anita
6e34317e-2dda-42b9-8244-14747695598c
Middleton, Stuart E
404b62ba-d77e-476b-9775-32645b04473f
Djohari, Natalie
90a32268-7e26-45f3-bd47-db9d5a3250ce
Tartari, Morena
55f96a3d-ea75-4118-8a05-2b6f40ca7cd3

Ugwudike, Pamela, Roth, Silke, Lavorgna, Anita, Middleton, Stuart E, Djohari, Natalie and Tartari, Morena (2025) Harmful sharenting in the UK: Protecting children from digital harm Southampton, UK. University of Southampton 3pp. (doi:10.5258/SOTON/PP0118).

Record type: Monograph (Project Report)

Abstract

Sharenting - the sharing of children’s personal
information by parents on social media - has
become a widespread practice. While often
well-intentioned, it exposes children to harm.
Examples include identity-related crimes,
harassment, cyberbullying, contact by strangers,
and privacy breaches. The ProTechThem
interdisciplinary research project brings
together social and computer science expertise
to investigate sharenting risks. The project
reveals that current regulations, platforms’
safety provisions, and parental cybersecurity
measures are insufficient to protect affected
children from digital harm. This brief outlines
key harms of sharenting and proposes
both evidence-based and actionable policy
recommendations for a safer digital future.

Text
110254 A4 4pp Policy Brief - ProTechThem English - Alistair Sackley - V4 - Version of Record
Restricted to Repository staff only
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
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Text
Policy Brief 2025 v5 - Version of Record
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
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More information

Published date: June 2025
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Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 502609
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/502609
DOI: doi:10.5258/SOTON/PP0118
PURE UUID: bb86b846-2b97-4aff-a045-688e731cad1d
ORCID for Pamela Ugwudike: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1084-7796
ORCID for Silke Roth: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8760-0505
ORCID for Anita Lavorgna: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8484-1613
ORCID for Stuart E Middleton: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8305-8176
ORCID for Natalie Djohari: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7636-2863

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 02 Jul 2025 12:41
Last modified: 23 Sep 2025 02:13

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Contributors

Author: Pamela Ugwudike ORCID iD
Author: Silke Roth ORCID iD
Author: Anita Lavorgna ORCID iD
Author: Stuart E Middleton ORCID iD
Author: Natalie Djohari ORCID iD
Author: Morena Tartari

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