LOS ANGELES (June 2, 2025) — The Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP) is drawing attention to a recent report that underscores the crucial role of parents in safeguarding their children online — a task that should not be relegated to lawmakers or abandoned to publishers of adult-oriented content.
ASACP is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting online child safety for over 29 years. The association proactively protects children from online harm by fostering corporate responsibility. It receives support from leading companies, organizations, individuals, and other stakeholders.
Earlier this year, the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) partnered with Ipsos to conduct a survey of 1,000 children aged 10 to 17, along with 1,000 parents of children in the same age range. The result, “Connected and Protected: Insights from FOSI’s 2025 Online Safety Survey,” provides valuable insights into the role of parents and publishers in protecting children online.
ASACP Executive Director Tim Henning points to this new research as revealing the foundational element in online child protection — parental controls and involvement.
“FOSI’s ongoing research reveals what many of us already know — effective online child protection begins at home, with effective parenting and supervision,” Henning said. “There are no prohibitionist legislative efforts or technical measures that can replace the involvement of caring parents and guardians when it comes to protecting children as they live their digital lives.”
According to FOSI, its Online Safety Survey is an ongoing, biannual research project designed to track online safety trends over time, exploring specific risks associated with internet use and other online safety concerns. It tracks screen usage and parental control implementation across six device types: both desktop and laptop computers, smartphones, smart TVs, tablets, and video game consoles.
Conducted in the United States through a representative sample of the general population, the survey’s findings shed light on how parents and children perceive children’s experiences with the internet.
Among the survey’s key insights is that parental controls are underutilized across all devices, with adoption varying widely, from 51 percent on tablets to 35 percent across popular video game consoles.
One top concern for both parents and children is kids’ posting on and scrolling social media, with one bright spot being that 89 percent of minors say they feel comfortable turning to their parents if something they see online makes them feel unsafe.
Other positive notes include an increasing awareness among parents of their children’s use of AI as it becomes more integrated into online platforms, as well as lower screen times for children whose parents have installed parental controls.
Less encouraging findings include parents’ underestimation of the scope of activities and time spent online by their kids.
“Some parents may be engaging in some wishful thinking by overestimating the amount of time children spend on traditionally productive activities [such as] working on creative projects and reading books/articles,” the survey report noted. It also reveals that while nearly all parents reported setting rules on the use of devices at home, such as “[you] must finish all homework and chores before using this device,” with the device being taken away if household rules are broken, it also highlights the fact that using devices is treated as a reward for finishing their tasks, either instead of or in addition to being tools to utilize in the completion of those tasks.
“While only half of parents utilize parental controls to restrict their children’s online activity, parents are engaged in other ways,” the survey report revealed, and added, “Many have more informal house rules governing online activity.”
Parents Must Take Control
For many parents, “parental control” over their children’s device usage is often a matter of punishment or reward, more than a limitation of the content they might encounter online. However, this should not be the case, as easy-to-use tools make protecting children online accessible and free for every parent or guardian.
The FOSI study examined seven different types of standard parental controls, including web filters, app restrictions, privacy settings, time limits, activity monitors, communication limits, and spending limits, to encompass a broad range of tools that are readily available to proactive parents.
These action-oriented guardians of their children’s well-being enable filters, such as ASACP’s Restricted To Adults (RTA) label, to block specific websites, words, or imagery from being accessed. Likewise, app restrictions prevent children from accessing adult content on the web and downloading specific apps without parental permission.
“ASACP developed the RTA label in response to U.S. Congressional demands that ‘something be done’ about kids’ easy access to adult content on the internet,” Henning explained. “This valuable tool is easy for parents to use and free for app and site publishers to implement. RTA serves as the cornerstone of technical measures for online child protection, as it prioritizes both child safety and privacy protection.”
The FOSI report notes that privacy settings can be used to prevent the sharing of children’s personal information via social media or email. At the same time, communication limits restrict who children are allowed to call, message, or video chat with. In addition, time limits are used to control the duration children spend online or on specific apps, while spending limits restrict the amount of money they can spend in-game or in-app.
Finally, activity monitors enable parents to see which websites their children visit and what they are doing online, providing a basis for discussions about appropriate and responsible behaviors.
The Way Forward
The FOSI study offers valuable insights into the evolving nature of online safety, highlighting the risks associated with the digital world while emphasizing that effective online safety measures empower children and their parents to navigate the internet with confidence and security. The findings underscore the importance of open communication between parents and children, proactive education on online safety, and collaboration across industries and other stakeholders to improve the usability and interoperability of parental controls.
“By improving communication between parents and their children, and effectively using available parental controls, families can strive to create a safer and more informed digital environment,” Henning concluded. “By providing education and fostering empowerment, ASACP, FOSI, Thorn, and other groups are creating a safer online environment for children and their families, and building a better tomorrow that we all can be proud of.”
To learn more about how your business can help protect itself by protecting children, email tim@asacp.org.
About ASACP
Founded in 1996, ASACP is a nonprofit organization dedicated to online child protection. ASACP comprises the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection and the ASACP Foundation. ASACP is a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization that manages a membership program, providing resources to companies to help them protect minors online. The ASACP Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, is responsible for our CSAM Reporting Tipline and the RTA (Restricted To Adults) meta-labeling system.
ASACP has invested nearly 29 years in developing progressive programs to protect minors, and its assistance to the digital media industry’s child protection efforts is unparalleled. For more information, visit ASACP.org.
