I dont know where you're from, but letting kids walk around by themselves is absolutely normal. And important for them. Usually you just tell them to be home before the sun sets.

Except children DO walk by themselves if they're at least in primary school. You don't accompany your kid from doorstep to doorstep every time they go to the school, store or extracurricular. You teach the kid how to be on the street safely, where they can and cannot go, and periodically call them on the phone to check if everything's alright. Same with the internet: the parent's job is to TEACH and let the child know for sure where the potential danger is.

Usually with online censorship it is also not just about real harm but any harm some major group believes will harm the children even if there is research or at least evidence to the contrary. Meanwhile they usually ignore any harm done by de-anonymizing the users or the potential for censorship of materials of different kinds once the mechanisms are in place.