Sponsored Discussion @ CMC

August 1, 2013

At this year's Children's Media Conference in Sheffield, the CMF sponsored a session called What’s Good: Trust and Quality in a Digital World.

It brought together the industry, regulators and academics to discuss various issues surrounding children's online and interactive services. Two topics of public concern emerged: the apparent refusal of the major internet providers, such as YouTube, Facebook and others, to acknowledge the children who use them and to help them avoid inappropriate content; and the controversial question of in-app purchasing (IAP) was also on everyone's mind

IAP is a topic which is generating press interest, and causing concern not only amongst parents (who pay the bills) but amongst industry practitioners who want to get it right, while trying to make an honest living.

CMF has been in discussion with the regulator, PhonePay Plus, who were represented at the Conference. Their recent report highlighted some of the key problems. Still in its infancy, the digital playground is a veritable wild wild west, with regulation unclear and some in-app purchasing blatantly exploitative. David Kleeman, "PlayVangelist" from across the pond, explained that companies need to make money, while children need to be protected from unfair practice. The consensus was that the industry has an opportunity to balance business with ethics, to work with the regulators to highlight bad practice, and put their own house in order - making the wild west a little less wild.

For those that missed the session, a full report is available here.

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