Online safety gap spans social media, schoolwork and AI
Children in Australia and the United States are reporting more online activity than their parents realise, with the biggest gap in online safety research around generative AI use.
In a survey of more than 4,000 parents and children aged 10-17, 27% of parents said their child had used generative AI in the past week, while 38% of children said they had. Gaps also appeared in social media use, with 46% of parents saying their child had scrolled social media in the past week compared with 54% of children, and 30% of parents saying their child had posted on social media compared with 38% of children.
The Family Online Safety Institute research was fielded by Ipsos from 17th March to 6th April 2026 and included 1,003 Australian children, 1,003 Australian parents, 1,000 U.S. Children and 1,000 U.S. Parents.
Parents also showed little confidence in tech companies’ ability to protect children from harmful content. Just 27% of parents said tech companies were effective, while 41% of children said they were.
Australian families differ on responsibility
Australian families were far more likely than U.S. Families to say government should help teach children about online safety, at 30% compared with 12%. Teacher responsibility also differed, with 64% of Australians saying teachers play a role compared with 42% of Americans.
Family conversations remained a stronger measure than device restrictions in the survey. Nine in 10 children said they could talk to their parents if something online made them feel unsafe, while 92% of children and 91% of parents said parents are responsible for children’s online safety education.
Household rules were also more common than technical parental controls. Among families with smartphone access, 68% had at least one household rule compared with 49% who had parental controls on the device.
Alanna Powers-O’Brien, Research Specialist at the Family Online Safety Institute and author of the white paper, said: “This research demonstrates areas of both agreement and division among parents and teens in the U.S. And Australia. At a time when young people’s use of the internet is of great interest to policymakers worldwide, this report highlights how parents and children themselves are navigating online safety amidst this backdrop.”
The white paper also includes U.S. Trend data showing generative AI use by children was 74% in Wave Three in Fall 2025 and 72% in Wave Four, after rising 13 points between Fall 2024 and Fall 2025.
