Research was commissioned to support Ofcom’s work in engaging platforms, who can play a key role in fostering media literacy among their audiences. As part of our ongoing effort to deepen understanding of user expectations, we committed to examining specific issues including the potential impact of persuasive design on children. This programme of research was commissioned to explore how persuasive design features could lead to potential financial harms for children.
These research reports set out findings and themes from Ofcom’s research into the potential links between persuasive features and financial harms for children. This comprises a qualitative study and a quantitative survey of children and parents. It should be noted that in our qualitative research, participants defined ‘financial harm’ by identifying the ways in which children are adversely affected when encouraged by persuasive platform features to spend money, rather than using a predefined list of harms. It therefore differs from how Ofcom uses the term in reference to those harms defined in the Online Safety Act.
The qualitative research draws on views from 62 parents and 105 children and was conducted by Discovery Research. It explores children’s experiences, attitudes and media literacy, to identify the persuasive platform features or functionalities that may lead to financial harms in children. It also provides potential mitigating solutions proposed by parents, which describe how they would like platforms to address these concerns.
The quantitative element draws on the views from 2,205 children and their parents and was conducted by Beano Brain. The quantitative report outlines that around 6 in 10 children aged 8-17 are spending money online in social or gaming environments. It also provides insight into how children spend money in these environments, what influences their online spending and how they (and their parents) feel about their online spending.