Peter Andre wants stricter measures introduced to limit what children can do online.
He spoke on GB News after the mother of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey launched a major new campaign to tackle harmful online content.
Last week she called for her daughter’s death to be a “tipping point” in how society views “the mess” of the internet, warning that a generation of anxious young people will grow up lacking resilience.
Andre added his voice to those demanding Government action to protect children from the dangers of online content.
Peter Andre wants more done to protect children online
GB NEWS
He revealed that some of his children do not have smartphones, but he fears they still have access to potentially inappropriate content via their friends at school.
“We’re focusing again on what parents have to do, but what are the government doing about safety online? Because kids find ways”, he said on GB News.
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Brianna Ghey’s mother has launched a major campaign
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“They might not have a smartphone, but they’ll go to school and they will get the information from their friends who have got a smartphone.
“My kids have done that.
“This is just my opinion, but we need to have things in place to protect them while they’re online.
“Yes, of course, it would be ideal if we could stop them all going online, that would be great. But it’s highly unlikely.
“Online safety needs to be paramount in amongst everything else.”
Ghey expressed concern for children and young people seeing “this hateful way of speaking” and she would “like to sit down and speak to the regulators and social media companies”.
“(Social media companies) have got us into this mess now and it is their responsibility to get us out of it, and it’s something that we can all work on together,” she said.
“Social media companies and mobile phone companies have both got a moral responsibility to not think about profit so much and actually think about how their product is impacting the people who are using it.”
She is campaigning for an age limit for smartphone usage and stricter controls on access to social media apps.
Asked what she thought of X owner Elon Musk describing himself as a “free speech absolutist”, she added: “If people can comment on posts that young people are putting up in such a disgusting way and when you report it, nothing happens, it’s a bit of a ridiculous title to call himself.”
