UN Calls for Stronger Online Child Protection, Accountability for Tech Companies
UN Calls for Stronger Online Child Protection, Accountability for Tech Companies
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The United Nations has emphasized that protecting children in the digital space is now an urgent global priority, calling for stricter measures to ensure their safety online and hold responsible parties accountable for harms caused through digital platforms.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk urged governments to require major technology companies to include child-safety standards in the design of their digital products and services. He said online harms faced by children are not inevitable, but often result from unsafe commercial practices and design choices.
Türk noted that while the digital world offers children opportunities for learning, communication, and creativity, it also carries serious risks to their safety, privacy, and psychological and social well-being.
He pointed to addictive design features used by some platforms, including endless scrolling, autoplay videos, and constant notifications, which can increase screen time and negatively affect children’s mental health.
The UN official stressed that protecting children online should not rely only on age restrictions or broad social media bans. He warned that such measures alone may fail to address the root causes of the problem and could push children toward less safe and harder-to-monitor platforms.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has prepared ten guiding principles titled “Getting Child Safety Online Right.” The recommendations include maximum default protection for children’s data, a ban on targeting children with commercial advertising based on their digital data, and age safeguards for certain technologies such as AI-powered chatbots and addictive digital features.
The guidelines also call for independent oversight of protection policies, legal consequences for violations, and access to legal remedies when children’s digital rights are breached.
Türk also warned that age-verification systems, if poorly designed, could endanger the privacy of both children and adults. He called for balanced solutions that protect children without creating new unintended risks.
