Tech giant Google has been accused of ‘grooming’ children for data and engagement after it emerged the company was directly emailing minors ahead of their 13th birthday with instructions on how to switch off parental safety controls.
Outcry Over 'Graduation' Emails to Minors
The controversy erupted after Melissa McKay, president of the online safety group the Digital Childhood Institute, discovered Google had sent an email to her 12-year-old son, Mike. The message informed him that upon turning 13, he could ‘graduate’ from a supervised account and gain more access to Google apps and services, explaining how he could disable controls himself.
Posting on LinkedIn, McKay slammed the practice as ‘reprehensible’. She argued that Google was asserting authority over a parental boundary, reframing guardians as a ‘temporary inconvenience’ and positioning corporate platforms as the default replacement. ‘Call it what it is. Grooming for engagement. Grooming for data. Grooming minors for profit,’ she wrote. Her post sparked a huge backlash, garnering almost 700 comments.
Policy Reversal and Broader Safety Concerns
In response to the fierce criticism, Google has announced a significant policy change. A company spokesman stated: ‘Building on our commitment to family safety, we’re making a planned update to require formal parental approval for teens to leave a supervised account.’ Previously, the company emailed both the parent and child before the birthday, but the child could then disable settings without explicit consent.
Rani Govender, a policy manager at the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), supported the need for parental oversight. ‘Every child develops differently, and parents should be the ones to decide with their child when the right time is for parental controls to change,’ she said, highlighting the risks of children navigating online spaces alone.
The row coincides with heightened scrutiny of children's online safety. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch recently pledged to ban under-16s from social media and smartphones in schools if her party wins power, following Australia's lead. Meanwhile, online regulator Ofcom confirmed it is monitoring the situation, warning tech firms must take a safety-first approach or face enforcement.
The Legal Landscape and Age of Consent
Google's policy hinges on the age of digital consent, which is 13 in both the UK and the US. In France, the minimum age is 15, and in Germany it is 16. The Liberal Democrats have called for the UK age to be raised to 16. Google clarified that children over 13 can still create new accounts without any parental controls.
This incident follows a similar safety controversy at Meta, which now provides ‘teen’ profiles for under-18s requiring parental supervision. It also unfolds as X owner Elon Musk faces an Ofcom investigation over evidence his AI chatbot, Grok, was used to create sexual images of children.
