Kirra Pendergast

If device makers become the authority that labels people as children, what stops an adult who wants contact with children from being labelled a child? On current evidence, this is a real gap, and almost no public guidance addresses it. A few years ago, over lunch in London, I sat across from a member of Pornhub’s senior management team. I had come to talk about one thing: the sheer volume of fetishised Roblox content on their platform. Roblox avatars, recorded in-game performing sexual acts,...

“We’ll just get them a dumb phone.” Parents and carers say it all the time, usually with relief. The hard decision has been put off and a simple one has taken its place. I understand that relief, and I also think the word “simple” does a lot of damage, because it closes the conversation at the exact moment it should open. Please let me explain before anyone runs to the comments section. Waiting is a valid decision, and for many children it is the right one. If your family has decided on no...

Free Robux, it says, but only if you claim them in the next few hours. There is a link, then a login box, and for a child who's been saving for a new avatar outfit since the last school holidays, there's little reason to hesitate. Next, the child types their username and password into a page that looks exactly like Roblox. Sometimes they are asked for their two-factor code as well, and they hand that over too, because as far as they understand it, that is what the code is for. Then the page...