Online risk, harm and vulnerability: reflections on the evidence base for child Internet safety policy

After a decade or more in which research has examined the opportunities and risks encountered by children on the internet, this article assesses the contribution and challenges of producing an evidence base to inform policy in a hotly contested field. It offers critical analysis and new findings, drawing on the EU Kids Online project, a major study of children’s internet use in 25 countries. Building on the distinction between risk (a calculation based on the probability and severity of harm), and harm itself, research and policy on children’s online risk faces particular problems in measuring harm and, therefore, risk. Further complications arise from the interdependencies among opportunity, risk-taking, resilience and vulnerability. Such complexities must be recognised if we are to advance beyond the entrenched positions that so often polarise debate.