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Harmful sharenting in the UK: Protecting children from digital harm, long version

Harmful sharenting in the UK: Protecting children from digital harm, long version
Harmful sharenting in the UK: Protecting children from digital harm, long version
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 digital harm. Examples include identity-related crimes, harassment, cyberbullying, contact from strangers, and privacy breaches. Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and led by researchers at the University of Southampton, the ProTechThem interdisciplinary research project brings together social and computer science expertise to investigate whether and how sharenting leads to serious (cyber) crimes and harms against affected children. The project reveals that current regulations, platforms’ safety provisions, and parental cybersecurity measures are insufficient to protect affected children from harm. This brief outlines victimisations experienced by children due to sharenting and proposes actionable policy recommendations for a safer digital future.
University of Southampton
Ugwudike, Pamela
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Roth, Silke
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Lavorgna, Anita
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Middleton, Stuart E
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Djohari, Natalie
90a32268-7e26-45f3-bd47-db9d5a3250ce
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

Ugwudike, Pamela, Roth, Silke, Lavorgna, Anita, Middleton, Stuart E and Djohari, Natalie (2025) Harmful sharenting in the UK: Protecting children from digital harm, long version University of Southampton 4pp. (doi:10.5258/SOTON/PP0117).

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 digital harm. Examples include identity-related crimes, harassment, cyberbullying, contact from strangers, and privacy breaches. Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and led by researchers at the University of Southampton, the ProTechThem interdisciplinary research project brings together social and computer science expertise to investigate whether and how sharenting leads to serious (cyber) crimes and harms against affected children. The project reveals that current regulations, platforms’ safety provisions, and parental cybersecurity measures are insufficient to protect affected children from harm. This brief outlines victimisations experienced by children due to sharenting and proposes actionable policy recommendations for a safer digital future.

Text
111512 - A4 4pp policy brief - Pamela Ugwudike V3[12] - Version of Record
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike.
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Published date: 2025
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Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 506205
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/506205
DOI: doi:10.5258/SOTON/PP0117
PURE UUID: dc6dec88-9040-4172-b2e3-089ed7c7333b
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: 30 Oct 2025 17:37
Last modified: 01 Nov 2025 03:02

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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

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