Protecting Children Online

I recently read the UN publication “Getting Children’s Safety Online Right”, and it highlights one of the most important challenges of the digital era: protecting children online. The report recognises that the digital world offers children enormous opportunities for learning, creativity and communication, but at the same time exposes them to growing risks affecting their safety, privacy and wellbeing.

Photo: alekksall na Magnific

As someone working in cybersecurity, and as a father of a growing child, I think about this topic not only professionally but also personally. To be honest, I do not believe there is a single solution. At home, I still believe that education remains the most effective defence. Open conversations, teaching critical thinking, explaining privacy, maintaining parental supervision appropriate to a child’s age and using content filtering on devices are currently the best tools I know.

However, education alone is no longer enough.

The UN publication correctly argues that the responsibility cannot rest solely with children and parents. It recommends a much broader approach, including safer platform design, stronger protection of children’s data, limits on addictive design features, transparency of recommendation algorithms, child rights impact assessments, safeguards around age verification and effective regulatory oversight.

If platforms deliberately design products around infinite scrolling, autoplay, personalised recommendations, behavioural profiling and engagement algorithms that maximise children’s screen time, then responsibility cannot be shifted primarily to families. The creators of these digital environments should carry much greater responsibility. Children and parents should not have to defend themselves against products intentionally engineered to maximise attention and data collection.

I generally prefer education over prohibitions, and I am not a strong supporter of broad bans. However, I understand why more countries are introducing restrictions on children’s access to certain social media services or AI-powered applications. The real objective should not simply be limiting access. It should be making digital platforms fundamentally safer by design.

Large technology companies should feel both regulatory and societal pressure to prioritise children safety. And if that pressure is not enough, regulators should have access to effective, proportionate and truly dissuasive penalties. The philosophy should be similar to the GDPR or the AI Act, where sanctions are significant enough to influence board-level decisions. Only when irresponsible design becomes more expensive than responsible design will many organisations genuinely prioritise children’s safety over engagement metrics.

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Author: Sebastian Buregemejster