Websites and social media are a double edged sword: while they have the power to connect, educate and entertain they can also cause harm.
When supporting often very vulnerable children and young people (CYP) online, safety is our top priority. On Kooth, we pre-moderate everything on the site to ensure complete safety. To this end, we have teams of specially trained moderators which review and filter content and comments according to strict safeguarding, clinical and age guidelines.
Pre-moderation is a vital component of our service, protecting young people while reassuring parents, teachers and GPs that CYP will never be exposed to trolling, negative comments, or content that is harmful or unsuitable for their age.
What does pre-moderation look like in practice?
When a young person submits a piece of content - perhaps an article, a comment or a poem - it is automatically reviewed by our moderation team. In some cases, this content doesn’t meet our guidelines, isn’t deemed suitable for the site and is not published. It might, for example, contain information giving away a person’s identity, it might be triggering for other service users or it may be unsuitable for a specific age group.
According to Kooth’s head of safeguarding, Tom Strannix, this pre-moderation is key to safeguarding young people:
“As well as ensuring content is suitable and safe, a critical component of this pre-moderation is in highlighting safeguarding risks. If a service user’s submitted comments are unsuitable because they talk about methods of self-harm or describe binge eating for example, then they won’t be published.
"Instead, one of our moderators will message the young person explaining why their submission wasn’t published and may work with them to help make their post suitable. Depending on the content, they may also offer a chat session with a practitioner to offer any necessary safeguarding support, as well as sharing some helpful resources.”
In a recent case, a 13-year-old boy used his online journal to detail issues around a number of mental health issues, including anxiety, self-harm, loss of appetite, and social isolation. This was flagged by a member of our moderation team who messaged him suggesting he have a chat with a specialised practitioner. He agreed - and was matched with a male counsellor at his request.
After a series of one-to-one chat sessions, the boy’s mental health improved significantly. Wanting to ‘give back’, he began helping others on the platform, by offering support and replying to questions posed in discussion forums.
Anonymity is a powerful way to help and safeguard more people
The reason this 13-year-old boy felt able to seek help from Kooth in the first instance was because of the anonymity our site provides. In a recent survey of our service users, 97% said it was important that they could be anonymous on Kooth.
Young people consistently tell us that their anonymity enables them to disclose things they wouldn't feel comfortable sharing otherwise.
It also often means a young person feels more in control, rather than fearful of the consequences of disclosing in another setting, such as a school. The more in control a young person feels, the more likely they are to share what is really going on, which enables us to work with any risk alongside them.
It’s not uncommon for CYP to come to Kooth with issues of trust or shame connected to a recent event or ongoing issue. Sometimes, their concerns haven’t been heard or they may be experiencing depression or abuse and don’t know where to turn.
Whatever the circumstance, Kooth’s offer of anonymity helps create a sense of safety, allowing young people to open up without fear of judgement. Our team can then build trust through conversation and identify risks to help keep the young person safe.
Tom Strannix: “I often think about what the alternative might be: if there wasn’t an anonymous service they could get to via their phone, how and when would that person ever have felt they could ask for help? What might have happened to them?”
Kooth is part of local safeguarding systems
Critically, Kooth is part of local safeguarding systems so that we connect CYP with appropriate services if we know they’re at risk.
Tom Strannix: “Kooth is an anonymous site, which certainly helps us to support more people. However, keeping at-risk CYP safe always involves asking for their details so that they are then helped into the local safeguarding system.
"Because we have built up trust with that person, this can enable them to share their information with us. Where appropriate we continue to support them as they’re helped into local on-the-ground support.”
Aligning practices with national guidance
As head of safeguarding at Kooth supporting a growing community of CYP, Tom is conscious of a duty of care, making sure the right systems and processes are in place to protect young people: “Obviously, the experience of CYP on Kooth is so important. We need to offer the right support when they need it. In terms of safeguarding, this requires huge commitment.
"Internally, we have thorough processes we follow and a dedicated safeguarding and clinical governance team which oversees everything. It’s also imperative that we’re aligned to every piece of available best practice guidance and evidence - including the Online Safety Act, while keeping up-to-date with the ways online threats are evolving.”