With Gen-Z and Alpha born into technology and social media, it can be easy to forget that they still need help navigating and learning how to use social media and the internet safely. We've got some top tips to help you help them:

1. Educate and encourage open dialogue: Teach children things like the importance of strong, unique passwords, recognising and avoiding online threats (such as phishing scams, malware, etc.), and the risks associated with sharing personal information. Talk with them about their online experiences; it’s important to be approachable so that they can confide in you if they encounter any issues online.
2. Set clear guidelines and boundaries: Discuss time limits, content sharing (both anything they create and that of others), and ensure they understand the importance of privacy settings. Each social media platform has family management features to help you set and manage these within the app while Apple and Android devices have systems that can help you manage access at device level.
3. Understand the platforms and stay up to date: Each platform has its own set of ever-evolving rules, features, and potential risks, so knowing how these platforms work and change will help you guide your child effectively.

You can find more details on device and platform family controls here:

• Apple
• Google
• Instagram
• Snap
• TikTok

What does this mean for campaigns?

Every platform is under scrutiny for how seriously they take child safety, and this includes advertising. If you have a brand or product that will specifically appeal to 13-17 year olds, for example, each platform has various rules in place to manage how you advertise to this market.

In the UK, products that fall into any restricted class cannot be advertised to under-18s. Restricted classes include alcohol, finance-related services (including crypto and gambling), medicines and cosmetic surgery, and weight loss products or services. Additionally, in the UK, energy drinks like Red Bull or Prime can’t be targeted at under-18s.

Outside of these restricted products, there are still precautions in place to protect young people from all advertising. All platforms restrict targeting to age and location, with city level being the smallest geographical area allowed where applicable. On certain platforms, you can’t narrow down targeting by additional interests and browsing activity.

Though these restrictions can affect performance, they are in place for a reason, and your campaigns can still be successful if you adapt your content and tactics accordingly. Even without the restricted targeting capabilities, platforms will optimise the delivery of ads based on performance. By ensuring your content is rich and engaging you can ensure the platform delivers it to a relevant audience.

It’s important to be mindful that policies can change, so it’s always best to check the current policies before starting your campaign strategy.