Professor Brian O'Neill:

I will invite my colleague to comment directly on that point. By way of a general comment, the general data protection regulation is fundamentally empowering of citizens' rights for their data and information. All of that is to be welcomed.

I fully support and understand the concerns of advocates who are looking to ensure the best possible reinforcement for children's online safety. Where we disagree is in terms of the use of the age of digital consent as an instrument for that end. We are looking at an updating of our data protection arrangements. Currently, we have norms of 13 years of age applying across global social media and information society services.

The strategy of those of us who work in research, policy and education is to reinforce the protections afforded to those active users and to those who benefit from the ability to participate actively. The issue has been widely debated and a broad consultation with the whole children's charity sector has reinforced the message in terms of supporting the participation of young people and ensuring the appropriate protections.