Children’s and Parents’ Perceptions of Online Commercial Data Practices: A Qualitative Study

Laurien Desimpelaere, Liselot Hudders and Dieneke Van de Sompel
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Laurien Desimpelaere: Department of Communication Sciences, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Belgium
Liselot Hudders: Department of Communication Sciences, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Belgium / Department of Marketing, Innovation and Organization, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium
Dieneke Van de Sompel: Department of Communication Sciences, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Belgium / Department of Marketing, Innovation and Organization, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium

Media and Communication, 2020, vol. 8, issue 4, 163-174

Abstract: Children’s personal data are often collected for commercial aims. Although regulations in different countries aim to protect children’s privacy (e.g., by imposing websites to request parental consent for the processing of children’s data for commercial purposes), concerns about protecting children’s online data continue to rise. This article therefore aims to get insights into parents’ and children’s privacy coping strategies and perceptions underlying these strategies. In-depth interviews with ten parents and nine children (8–11 years) were conducted. Findings show that although children engaged in avoidance (e.g., leaving the particular website) and confrontation (e.g., seeking support) strategies, they mainly did this to protect their privacy from malicious individuals—and not from commercial parties. Participating children also lacked general knowledge about both explicit and implicit data practices. To protect their children’s privacy, parents in this study mainly adopted restrictive mediation strategies, but lacked the knowledge to undertake concrete actions in the case of implicit data collection. Implications for policymakers are discussed.

Keywords: children; coping; data collection; online privacy; parents; privacy literacy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:meanco:v8:y:2020:i:4:p:163-174

DOI: 10.17645/mac.v8i4.3232

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