Ofcom Children's Online Safety Tracker (COST) Wave 2

“Children's Online Safety Tracker (COST)”

Wave 2 of the Children's Online Safety Tracker.

“UK children aged 8 to 17.”

Publication year 2026: Ofcom lists the Wave 2 technical report and data tables as published 21 May 2026. Survey fieldwork was 18 November–21 December 2025. Release evidence: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/media-use-and-attitudes/online-habits/childrens-experiences-of-using-online-services

“18th November to 21st December 2025.”

“Base: All children aged 11-17 (W1 1396, W2 1625)”

The displayed sample is the published comparison base of 1,625 children aged 11–17. The full harms module included 1,652; the comparison excludes 27 respondents who reported only newly added content categories. The full child survey included 3,387 aged 8–17. Eligible bases vary by item.

“Proportion of 11-17-year-olds who recall exposure to harmful content online”

Harm/content questions (Module 2) asked of 11-17s; the full survey covers ages 8-17.

“An online panel of adults was used to reach parents and recruit their children if aged 8 to 17.”

Non-probability online panels; children recruited through parents. Weighted by age, gender, socio-economic grade and region/nation.

“Have you seen or heard any of the below online in the last 4 weeks.…” “Bullying online (e.g. Cyber bullying).”

M2.2 Block 1 measures content seen or heard online, including bullying, trolling, gaming griefing and exclusion. For a selected bullying or trolling experience, M2.7 asks whether it was about the respondent or someone else; that follow-up does not apply to every experience.

“Have you seen or heard any of the below online in the last 4 weeks.…” “Showing someone with an eating disorder, or encouraging or providing instructions for one”

Eating-disorder-content exposure item (M2.2 Block 7).

“Have you seen or heard any of the below online in the last 4 weeks.…” “Self harm / hurting yourself on purpose: people showing this, giving instructions for this, or encouraging others to do this”

M2.2 Block 8 is restricted to Year 8+ in England and Wales, S2+ in Scotland and Year 9+ in Northern Ireland. Published Table 116 has 1,415 unweighted eligible respondents (1,346 weighted), compared with 1,652 in the full harms module. This excludes 237 first-secondary-year respondents from the unweighted base.

“Have you seen or heard any of the below online in the last 4 weeks.…” “Someone being seriously violent towards another person”

Violent-content exposure item (M2.2 Block 2a).

“Now thinking about how you feel when you are online, like when you are gaming, using social media, or messaging your friends and family.”“Looking at this scale, how happy are you…” “With the amount of time that you spend online?”Response options: Never happy / Sometimes happy / Mostly happy / Always happy / I don’t know / I don’t want to answer this

The child-core wellbeing item measures satisfaction with time online. It does not measure dependence, loss of control or displaced activities; unhappy responses do not establish problematic use. No fixed recall period or app-specific breakout.

“Which of these have you used in the last 4 weeks?”Response options: Discord / Facebook / Facebook Messenger / Facebook Messenger Kids / Instagram / Pinterest / Reddit / Snapchat / TikTok / WhatsApp / Telegram / YouTube / YouTube Kids / X / Twitter / Roblox / Minecraft / Call of Duty / Another app, website or online game not shown here / I don’t use apps or websites or play online games / I don’t know / I can’t remember / I don’t want to answer this

A1 measures use in the past four weeks, before the module split. This entry uses the 11–12 subgroup of Module 2 (380 unweighted respondents in the full module). The displayed 1,625 is the separate comparison base. The 11 eligible services exclude YouTube because permitted supervised use is not distinguished, child-specific services and games. Use does not establish ownership or a policy violation.

“This section is all about using different apps, websites, messaging and online games.…” “Which of these have you used in the last 4 weeks?”“(Even if you have stopped using them, please tick if you have used them during this time).”“You can choose more than one.”

Core question for ages 8-17. Full response roster appears in the expandable Underage Use tile.

“In the last 4 weeks have you set up your own account or profile on any of the below?”“(When you first set up your own account or profile, you may be asked for information like your name (or a username), your email address or phone number, your date of birth and to create your own password. Once you have an account or profile, you have your own log-in to share or watch content and interact with others online.)”“Please select one for each.”

Asked only of secondary-school children in Module 1, for services selected at A1; the under-13 respondents are secondary-school children aged 11-12. Measures recent account setup, not all accounts held or ownership among all 8-12s.

“Which of these have you used in the last 4 weeks?”

A1 names 17 services. M2.5 asks where each selected harmful experience was seen, using the respondent’s A1 services plus catch-all responses. This records app attribution; per-app denominators and eligible samples vary by item.

“Where did you see”

M2.5 with A.1 platforms carried forward as the answer options, asked for bullying content selected at M2.2 Block 1. Per-platform breakouts are in the data tables.

“Where did you see”

M2.5 with A.1 platforms carried forward as the answer options, asked for harms selected at M2.2 Block 7 (eating disorder).

“Where did you see”

M2.5 with A.1 platforms carried forward as the answer options, asked for harms selected at M2.2 Block 8 (suicide / self-harm).

“Where did you see”

M2.5 with A.1 platforms carried forward as the answer options, asked for harms selected at M2.2 Block 2a (violence).

“Which of these have you used in the last 4 weeks?”

A1 directly names services used in the past four weeks; the 11 qualifying services are TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, X (Twitter), Discord, Telegram, Reddit, Pinterest. This entry uses the 11–12 subgroup of Module 2. Underage Use is measured by per-service use, not the content-harm attribution follow-up M2.5. Other A1 services are available for the content-harm categories.