5Rights Foundation (5RF) is a United Kingdom-based organization founded in 2018 that promotes children’s abilities to access information, to play and rest, to be safe, to not to be exploited, and to be heard by advocating regulation of content, privacy for users, and safety systems for all internet content and artificial intelligence (AI). ^{1 2 3 4}

Activities

Online Safety Toolkit

5Rights Foundation and End Violence Against Children partnered in 2022 to launch the “Child Online Safety Toolkit” that contains information for policymakers, proposed policy action areas, model policies, and progress worksheets. ⁵

Youth Engagement

5RF partnered with the Gifted Young Generation on Safer Internet Day in February 2023 to encourage youth to make recommendations surrounding online safety. ⁶

5RF issued a joint letter with Eurochild, Missing Children Europe, End Child Prostitution and Trafficking (ecpat), and European Parents’ Association (EPA) calling on the European Union’s Digital Services Act to prioritize the best interests of the child. ⁷

A Child Safety Duties Code of Practice was developed by 5RF in response to the death of Molly Russell that advocates “shinning the light” on the harmful effects of online content on children’s mental health. ^{8 9}

5Rights Foundation’s founder introduced the Age-Appropriate Design Code that was adopted in 2020 in the United Kingdom and later adopted in Australia, Indonesia, European Union, Canada, Argentina, and California in 2022 in an adapted form. ¹⁰

5RF sent a legal letter to Meta in July of 2024 claiming that it has ignored reports of illegal child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on Instagram accounts with as many as 150,000 followers and requesting removal of harmful content and an investigation into their inability to enforce their terms and conditions. The images of concern included children stripping or wearing sexualized costumes. ¹¹

Research

5RF partnered with London School of Economics, and the Digital Futures Commission (DFC) to produce research in alignment with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) focused on free digital play, use of education data, and design for children’s rights. ¹²

Advocacy

Design of Service

5Rights Foundation advocated for the passage of the Age-Appropriate Design Code that codifies standards for website developers that takes into consideration the best interests of the children, provides for age-appropriate use, restricts the use of children’s personal data, provides privacy by default, prohibits disclosure of children’s data, and provides parental controls and tools to help children exercise their data rights. ¹³

Child Online Protection

5RF advocates for making safety of children a price of doing business online and the passage of legislation that requires it. The organization issued “Ambitions for the Online Safety Bill,” a report which sets out additional demands for legislation including consideration for groups of children as well as individuals, forcing companies to take preventative measures to mitigate risk, the addition of financial and consumer harms to the offenses, inclusion of algorithms and automation to its coverage, and the establishment of a regulator for enforcement. ¹⁴

5Rights issued a document in support of the European Union AI Act that regulates the development and use of artificial intelligence safeguarding children from their vulnerabilities and calls for strict enforcement across the countries of Europe. ¹⁵

Children and Young People’s Rights

5RF supported and secured the passage of general comment 25 on children’s rights in a digital world that requires the signatories to the United Nations’ “The Convention on the Rights of the Child” to report formally on its provisions. ¹⁶

5RF joined Child Rights Connect, Alana, Save the Children, Terre des Hommes International Federation, ecpat, Child Rights International Network, Child Fund Alliance, Make Mothers Matter, and Eurochild in a reiteration of their previous call for a Global Digital Compact (GDC) that prioritizes the promotion, protection and implementation of children’s rights in the digital world. ¹⁷

Digital Futures for Children

5Rights in a joint project with London School of Economics facilitates research to provide evidence-based advocacy and dialog with academics, policymakers in support of the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Rights of the Child’s general comment No. 25. ¹⁸

People

Beeban Kidron, a nonpartisan member of the U.K. House of Lords, is the founder and chair of 5Rights; an advisor to the Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford; and a commissioner on the United Nations Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development. ¹⁹

Leanda Barrington-Leach is executive director of 5RF and formerly adviser to the secretary general of the European External Action Service. ²⁰

Financials

5RF income rose from £1,153,555 (approximately $1.5 million) to £1,469,940 (approximately $1.9 million) in the period ending March 31, 2023, and expenditures rose to £1,795,993 (approximately $2.3 million) from £1,476,524 (approximately $1.9 million). ²¹

1. ^[1] “About 5rights Foundation.” 5Rights. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://5rightsfoundation.com/about-us/.
2. “International Work.” 5Rights. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://5rightsfoundation.com/about-us/international-work.html.
3. “EU AI Act Enters into Force: A Crucial Step for Child Protection.” 5Rights, August 1, 2024. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://5rightsfoundation.com/in-action/eu-ai-act-enters-into-force-a-crucial-step-for-child-protection.html.
4. Making child online safety a reality. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://childonlinesafetytoolkit.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/5Rights-Child-Online-Safety-Toolkit-English.pdf.
5. Making child online safety a reality. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://childonlinesafetytoolkit.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/5Rights-Child-Online-Safety-Toolkit-English.pdf.
6. 5rightsfoundation. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://5rightsfoundation.com/uploads/5rights-foundation-a-high-level-of-privacy-safety-and-security-for-minors-dsa-baseline-2024-final-1.pdf.
7. “Joint Letter to Meps: Children’s Rights in the EU’s Digital Services Act.” 5Rights, August 1, 2024. Accessed August 28, 20924. https://5rightsfoundation.com/in-action/joint-letter-to-meps-childrens-rights-in-the-eus-digital-services-act.html.
8. 5rightsfoundation. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://5rightsfoundation.com/uploads/5rights-foundation-a-high-level-of-privacy-safety-and-security-for-minors-dsa-baseline-2024-final-1.pdf.
9. Jenne, Amelia. “School’s Failure to Monitor Girl’s Internet Use ‘contributed’ to Her Suicide, Coroner Concludes.” Channel 4 News, October 6, 2021. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://www.channel4.com/news/schools-failure-to-monitor-girls-internet-use-contributed-to-her-suicide-coroner-concludes.
10. “International Work.” 5Rights. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://5rightsfoundation.com/about-us/international-work.html.
11. “5Rights Calls out Meta for Ignoring AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Material on Instagram.” 5Rights, August 1, 2024. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://5rightsfoundation.com/in-action/5rights-calls-out-meta-for-ignoring-ai-generated-child-sexual-abuse-material-on-instagram.html.
12. “Trustees Report” 5Rights. March 2023. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://5rightsfoundation.com/uploads/5Rights-Foundation-2022-23-Accounts.pdf?_cchid=3c5c1e6e4bcd0ba1fa19eb4f834f7193
13. Age appropriate design: A code of practice. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/key-data-protection-themes/age-appropriate-design-a-code-of-practice-for-online-services-2-1.pdf.
14. “UNCRC General Comment on Children’s Rights in Relation to the Digital Environment.” 5Rights. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://5rightsfoundation.com/our-work/childrens-rights/uncrc-general-comment.html.
15. “EU AI Act Enters into Force: A Crucial Step for Child Protection.” 5Rights, August 1, 2024. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://5rightsfoundation.com/in-action/eu-ai-act-enters-into-force-a-crucial-step-for-child-protection.html.
16. “UNCRC General Comment on Children’s Rights in Relation to the Digital Environment.” 5Rights. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://5rightsfoundation.com/our-work/childrens-rights/uncrc-general-comment.html.
17. “5Rights and LSE Launch Digital Futures for Children Joint Research Centre.” 5Rights, August 1, 2024. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://5rightsfoundation.com/in-action/5rights-and-lse-launch-digital-futures-for-children-joint-research-centre.html.
18. London School of Economics and Political Science. “Digital Futures for Children.” London School of Economics and Political Science. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://www.digital-futures-for-children.net/home.
19. “Our Trustees.” 5Rights. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://5rightsfoundation.com/about-us/our-trustees.html.
20. “Our Team .” 5Rights. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://5rightsfoundation.com/about-us/our-team.html.
21. ^[1] “Accounts”. 5Rights Foundation. Accessed August 28, 2024. https://5rightsfoundation.com/uploads/5Rights-Foundation-2022-23-Accounts.pdf?_cchid=3c5c1e6e4bcd0ba1fa19eb4f834f7193