Open Forum #29 Multisectoral action and innovation for child safety

Summary

This discussion focused on children’s rights and safety in the digital space, featuring panelists from various countries and organizations. The conversation highlighted the importance of protecting children online while also ensuring their rights to access, participation, and information are respected. Several key initiatives were presented, including Saudi Arabia’s National Framework for Child Safety Online, Albania’s integration of child protection into its cybersecurity agenda, and Australia’s e-Safety Commissioner’s work on education and prevention.

Panelists emphasized the need for a multi-stakeholder approach, involving governments, private sector, civil society, and children themselves. The Global Cybersecurity Forum’s efforts to develop child protection frameworks in multiple countries were discussed, as well as the role of child helplines in supporting children’s online experiences. Industry perspectives were provided, noting trends in companies’ approaches to children’s rights, including more sophisticated age-appropriate content classification and risk assessments.

Challenges were identified, such as the need for better data transparency from companies and the importance of addressing lesser-known issues affecting children online. The discussion also touched on recent regulatory developments, like Australia’s new legislation restricting social media access for children under 16. Participants stressed the importance of digital literacy, resilience-building, and critical reasoning skills for young people navigating the online world.

Overall, the discussion underscored the complex nature of ensuring children’s safety online while promoting their rights and highlighted the ongoing need for collaboration, innovation, and child-centered approaches in addressing these challenges.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– National strategies and frameworks for child online protection, including examples from Saudi Arabia, Albania, and Australia

– The role of technology companies in protecting children’s rights online

– The importance of child helplines in supporting children’s online experiences

– Challenges and innovations in online safety education and awareness

– The need for international collaboration and data sharing on child online protection

The overall purpose of the discussion was to explore different approaches to embedding children’s rights and safety within the digitalization agenda, with a focus on making the digital world a safe space for children to learn, play and explore.

The tone of the discussion was largely informative and collaborative, with panelists sharing insights from their respective countries and organizations. There was a sense of urgency around the topic, but also optimism about progress being made. The tone became slightly more concerned when discussing emerging challenges like changes to Internet standards that could bypass safety measures, but overall remained constructive throughout.

Speakers

– Jumana Haj-Ahmad: Deputy Representative for the UNICEF Gulf Area Office

– Floreta Faber: Deputy Director-General of Albania’s National Cyber Security Authority

– Maimoonah Al Khalil: Secretary General of the Family Affairs Council in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

– Alaa Al-Fadil: Global Cyber Security Authority in Saudi Arabia

– Paul Clark: Executive Manager of Education, Prevention and Inclusion at Australia’s E-Safety Commissioner

– Helen Mason: Director of Operations of Child Helpline International

– Richard Wingfield: Director of Technology Sectors, BSR, London office

– Afrooz Kaviani Johnson: UNICEF (co-moderator)

Additional speakers:

– Vicky Harisi: Harvard University, works on artificial intelligence and child’s rights

– Godsway Kubi: Lead facilitator for Internet Society Online Safety SIG

– Andrew Camping: Trustee with Internet Watch Foundation

Child Online Safety: A Global Perspective on Rights and Protection

This comprehensive discussion brought together experts from various countries and organisations to address the critical issue of children’s rights and safety in the digital space. The conversation highlighted the complex challenges of protecting children online whilst ensuring their rights to access, participation, and information are respected.

National Strategies and Frameworks

A key focus of the discussion was the development of national strategies and frameworks for child online protection. Maimoonah Al Khalil, Secretary General of the Family Affairs Council in Saudi Arabia, presented the country’s National Framework for Child Safety Online, launched in 2023. This framework covers four main areas: awareness, enablement, prevention, and protection, with ten tracks to achieve progress in these areas.

Alaa Al-Fadil from the Global Cyber Security Authority in Saudi Arabia discussed the ambitious Child Protection in Cyberspace initiative, which aims to develop child protection frameworks in numerous countries, upskill 60 million people, and protect 150 million children globally. Notably, the Global Cybersecurity Forum’s Child Protection in Cyberspace Global Summit held in Riyadh concluded with 12 key recommendations for the global community.

Floreta Faber, Deputy Director-General of Albania’s National Cyber Security Authority, explained how Albania has integrated child online protection into its cybersecurity strategy for 2025 and new cybersecurity law. Albania has also established a reporting platform for illegal online contact and is working with schools to raise awareness. The country is currently engaged in public discussions about addressing issues with social media use by children.

Paul Clark, Executive Manager of Education, Prevention and Inclusion at Australia’s E-Safety Commissioner, highlighted Australia’s focus on education programmes tailored to specific needs of children and young people, covering various age groups from zero to five up to young adults in their early 20s. The eSafety Commissioner also focuses on specific vulnerable groups, such as young people with disabilities, LGBTIQ+ teens, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth.

Industry Practices and Responsibilities

Richard Wingfield, Director of Technology Sectors at BSR, provided insights into evolving industry approaches to child protection. He noted a shift from basic parental controls to more sophisticated methods, including children’s rights impact assessments for new products and features. Wingfield emphasised the need for better data transparency from companies regarding their child protection efforts.

Paul Clark discussed the promotion of safety by design principles in Australia, emphasising the importance of building safety measures into platforms and apps from the beginning, rather than adding them as afterthoughts.

Supporting and Empowering Children Online

Helen Mason, Director of Operations of Child Helpline International, highlighted the crucial role of child helplines in supporting children’s online experiences. She discussed how these helplines have adapted to provide multiple channels of access, including chat and various online means, to meet children where they are in the digital space. Mason noted that mental health and violence are the top reasons for children contacting child helplines, emphasizing the importance of raising awareness about these services.

Paul Clark emphasised the importance of engaging youth voices in policy development, citing Australia’s eSafety Youth Council as an example of ensuring young people’s perspectives are heard and acted upon.

Jumana Haj-Ahmad, Deputy Representative for the UNICEF Gulf Area Office, stressed the need to balance protection with children’s rights to access and participation online.

Floreta Faber highlighted the importance of addressing the needs of vulnerable groups in online safety initiatives.

Data and Research

Several speakers emphasised the importance of data collection and research on children’s online experiences to inform policy and interventions. Helen Mason discussed collecting data on help-seeking behaviours and issues faced by children through child helplines. Alaa Al-Fadil mentioned conducting surveys and research to inform policy, while Paul Clark stressed the importance of evaluating the impacts of new regulations and interventions.

Richard Wingfield called for improved transparency and data sharing by companies to better understand and address online risks to children.

Challenges and Emerging Issues

The discussion touched on several challenges and emerging issues in the field of child online safety. These included:

1. Balancing safety measures with children’s rights to access information and participate online

2. Addressing potential unintended consequences of age restrictions for social media access

3. Ensuring child protection considerations are integrated into the development of new Internet standards and technologies

4. Improving transparency and data sharing from technology companies about their child protection efforts

Regulatory Developments

Paul Clark mentioned upcoming Australian legislation to prevent children under 16 from accessing certain social media sites. This sparked a discussion on different regulatory approaches across countries.

International Collaboration

A recurring theme throughout the discussion was the need for international collaboration and knowledge sharing in addressing child online safety. Jumana Haj-Ahmad emphasised that the diversity of perspectives in the discussion underscored the need for collective action to ensure children’s safety in the digital space. The importance of international collaboration in Internet standards development to ensure child protection was also raised in an audience question.

Conclusion

The discussion highlighted the complex nature of ensuring children’s safety online while promoting their rights. It underscored the ongoing need for collaboration, innovation, and child-centred approaches in addressing these challenges. The speakers demonstrated a high level of consensus on the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration and comprehensive strategies, suggesting a growing global recognition of the complexity of the issue and the need for coordinated efforts across sectors and regions.

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, it is clear that protecting children online will remain a critical global priority. This will require ongoing dialogue, research, and adaptive strategies to address emerging challenges and opportunities. The discussion emphasized that continued collaboration and innovation are essential to create a safer online environment for children while respecting their rights to access, participation, and information.

Jumana Haj-Ahmad: Okay, good afternoon everybody and thank you so much for joining us today. We’re delighted to have you all with us, both in person, in the room and online. And a very warm welcome to my co-moderator, Afrooz Kavyani-Joneson, who is joining me from UNICEF. Afrooz, thanks for joining us. My name is Joumana Haj Ahmad and I’m the Deputy Representative for the UNICEF Gulf Area Office. I am honored to help guide this discussion on a very important topic that resonates deeply to all of us. Children’s rights and safety in the digital space. As we all know, the Internet and digital technologies offer a lot of opportunities for children and adolescents to learn, to develop, to grow. But at the same time, these technologies and tools come with a lot of risks that require our attention and action. This session focuses on embedding children’s rights and safety within the digitalization agenda, ensuring that the digital world becomes a safe space, a place where children are protected, but at the same time, they’re learning, they’re playing, and they’re exploring. Today, we will be hearing from different countries, we will be hearing from different stakeholders, from different sectors about their efforts to make the digital space a safe space for children and adolescents. The diversity of perspectives, the diversity of the people joining this discussion, really emphasizes and underscores that a collective action is needed to ensure that children and adolescents are safe in the digital space. So, I will start by introducing our amazing and esteemed panelists. Dr. Maymoun Al-Khalil, Secretary General of the Family Affairs Council in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Ms. Alaa Al-Fadl, Global Cyber Security Authority in Saudi Arabia. Ms. Floretta Faber, Deputy Director General from the National Cyber Security Authority, Albania. Mr. Paul Clark, Executive Manager of Education, Prevention and Inclusion, E-Safety Commissioner, Australia. And back to Ms. Helen Mason, Director of Operations, Child Helpline International, Netherlands. Sorry, I forgot Mr. Richard. Apologies for that. Mr. Richard Wingfield, Director of Technology Sectors, BSR, London office. Thank you all for joining us in this exciting discussion. As we start the discussion, I would like to really flag two key points. The first one, as many of you know, it is estimated around one in three Internet users worldwide is a child. And this number underscores the importance of speaking about children’s rights and having children’s rights at the center of any discussion that relates to digital technology. Even for services that are not explicitly designed for children. Also, I think the second point is that we need to think about those children as real lives. Those children could be your own son or daughter, could be your nephew or niece, could be the son or daughter of a neighbor. So as we talk today about the importance of safety in the digital space of children, we need to put the lives of these children in our minds and hearts. And think about what experience are these children going through? Is it really a safe space that we’re offering them? Is it a space that is allowing them to grow and to learn and to make the best out of this opportunity that is being offered? I would like… Do you hear me? Okay. So I’d like to start with a question to Dr. Maimouna Al-Khalil. The IGF is being held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia this year, which aligns well with the Kingdom’s strong digitalization agenda and its focus on child online protection. Could you share with us how the Family Affairs Council is integrating child online protection into the national agenda, into national policies, and coordinating with the different stakeholders and different departments?

Maimoonah Al Khalil: Thank you very much. I hope I’m audible to everyone. I’d like to start by thanking you for inviting me to participate in this dialogue and to share our national work here in the Kingdom on child online protection. There are numerous initiatives taking place today in Saudi Arabia from government agencies, NGOs, and private sector on child online protection. To coordinate these efforts and to enable greater impact for these initiatives and to apply a holistic approach that covers all aspects of child online safety, the Family Affairs Council in 2023 launched the National Framework for Child Safety Online. This framework has four main areas, one being awareness, two being enablement, three being prevention, and four being protection. Now, there have been 10 tracks that have been put into place to achieve progress in these four areas. I will only give a few examples because I know we only have four minutes. Under awareness, for example, we have a track on school curricula where we will be working with the Ministry of Education to look at development of tailored material that targets specific groups of children, age-related, so that the material that is not there is created, and the material that exists is also revisited to embed some awareness information, and also to develop separate independent material to be accessible online at any time. Under enablement, for example, we have capacity-building efforts to prepare teachers and parents mainly with the set of skills they require to detect any dangers that children might face online, and another track for integrated governance in order to have an integrated approach for what children are exposed to online. Under prevention, we have a measure that is based on research and data in terms of looking at how can we do to prevent from the beginning any kind of issues that children might face online, and basically this framework is aimed as an instrument to coordinate all of these efforts that are underway to bring focus to this issue, and to make sure that the public spheres, the private spheres, and the NGOs are working together towards one vision. Now, we cover a number of domains, including cyber security, data protection, privacy, even the psychological aspect of what children go through is very important, and protecting from any cyber crimes that are identified by national law. Now, there have been 12 government entities that have already been identified as stakeholders and partners in this effort, including also the private sector and active NGOs in this regard. The role of the Family Affairs Council in this particular guideline and framework is to coordinate all of these efforts, to monitor these efforts, to report on the progress of these efforts to the center of government, and to identify any gaps by suggesting remedial initiatives. Now, our efforts focus on stakeholder coordination mainly, partnering with decision makers, educators, service providers, and to establish a government model that brings everyone together for the benefit of the child, and our focus areas on enhancing digital literacy, protecting children’s data, and building a culture of safe online behaviors through awareness campaigns and family support. Our outcome-oriented approach is in addressing and finding the gaps, where are the gaps that we can start working on, and leveraging and advancing technology. So, technology here in this sense is a danger, but it can also be an ally and a helper, and aligning efforts with global best practices. I’d like to end by a recent initiative that has brought together national efforts. It was a Family Affairs Council-led national awareness campaign, but in actuality what made it succeed was every entity that came and joined this campaign that focused on promoting child online’s digital safety, promoting healthy digital practices and behaviors, and advocating for parental controls, artificial intelligence, reporting tools, support channels that are existing here in the kingdom and shedding light and bringing them to the fore in every way we could, whether online or through the channels of other participating entities. The targeted segment in this particular campaign were teachers, parents, and caregivers. So this is just a snapshot of the framework, and I hope you enjoy it. Thank you.

Jumana Haj-Ahmad: Thank you so much, Dr. Maimouna, for sharing this overview, and being here in Saudi Arabia has allowed me to also see the consultative approach that you led the process, that you applied in leading the process of the development of the strategy, which really, I think, helped a lot in having the different stakeholders on board, including children, and until now I remember those interactive consultations with the children that the Family Affairs Council led, which was an amazing process. Now I would like to go to Alaa Al-Fadil from the Global Cyber Security Forum. Since its launch, the Global Cyber Security Forum has prioritized child protection as a core initiative. Can you share with us more about the Forum’s mission and your strategy for strengthening commitment and action to ensure children’s safety within the digitalization agenda?

Alaa Al-Fadil: Thank you, Jumana, for the question. Allow me to extend my appreciation to the UNICEF for inviting us to this important session of IGF 2024. So allow me first to start by addressing the question that the majority of the audience might have, which is why the Global Cyber Security Forum is considering child protection in cyberspace as a key priority and core initiative within its mandate. As you know, the unique positioning of the GCF is that, considering the cybersecurity beyond the technical aspects, our work spans all areas, from geopolitics, technical, behavioral, social, under which the child protection is a priority. And as you know, the GCF was entrusted to deliver the Child Protection in Cyberspace initiative stated by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Our key targets for this initiative include, first, developing a child protection framework in more than 50 countries, upskilling 60 million people, and protecting 150 million children globally. So to achieve these targets, we have developed an extensive research to develop a robust strategy. These initiatives include, first, a deep assessment of the global landscape, globally, with the validation of key insights from global experts, as well as including reviewing reports, initiatives, organizations, and programs. Second, a global survey to cover 41,000 people, from parents and children, from 24 countries across six regions. And I invite you all to read the report, Why Children are Unsafe in Cyberspace. It’s available from our website, the Global Cybersecurity Forum. So now, when it comes to the delivery model of our initiative, mainly this initiative, it’s structured under one fundamental principle, which is strengthening and complementing existing efforts of major stakeholders. That’s why we are partnering with UNICEF, ITU, WorkProtect, DQ, to deliver on our initiatives project. Finally, to maximize the impact of this initiative, we conducted and organized the Global Cybersecurity in conjunction with the Global Cybersecurity Forum, the CPC Global Summit, in collaboration with our STEAM partners. And it was here in Riyadh last October. The summit was concluded with a 12-key recommendation for the global community. And I believe there is no better way to conclude than with a quote from His Royal Highness, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in his welcoming statement to the participants of the GCF annual meeting at the CPC Summit. It reads as follows, cyberspace is closely linked to the growth of economy, the prosperity of society, the security of individuals, and the stability of nations. Thank you.

Jumana Haj-Ahmad: Thank you so much, Alaa, and for all the hard work. I know how you personally also led the preparations for the Global Summit on Child Protection. And it was an amazing summit with, as you said, with a lot of ambitious commitments made to make the digital space a safer space for children. Now I’d like to pass it on to Afrooz. Over to you, Afrooz. Thank you, Jamana.

Afrooz Kaviani Johnson: Can you hear me in the room? We can hear you, yes. Wonderful. So I’m glad that we can use technology to connect. And sorry, we’re not there in person, but I’m really happy to now go from the incredible developments within Saudi Arabia and the global picture from the Global Cyber Security Forum to hear from our colleagues and collaborators in Australia. So I have a question for Mr. Paul Clark, who, as Jamana mentioned, is the Executive Manager of Education, Prevention and Inclusion at Australia’s E-Safety Commissioner. So we know that Australia’s E-Safety Commissioner is implementing many measures to improve online safety for children. So really keen to hear from you, Paul, about your prevention and educative work in particular, realising that there is many other facets of work of the Commissioner, and to hear how you’re really ensuring that these efforts resonate with children and families across Australia to really make a difference in children’s lives. And because the theme of our session today is also about innovation, what are some of those key innovations that you’re introducing in this area?

Paul Clark: Thanks, Paul. Thank you, Afrooz. And thank you very much, everyone. It’s an absolute honour to be here today. For some of you who may not be as familiar with our work, I thought it might be interesting just to give a little bit of background about E-Safety, just to point out that when we were established 15 years ago, we were actually the children’s E-Safety Commissioner. In addition to our focus on education and awareness raising, we also pioneered the world’s first scheme to support individuals with legislative powers that enabled us to have harmful cyberbullying content removed for an individual. So now, while our responsibility extends to all Australians, and that’s reflected in our current name, children and young people will always remain an absolute priority for us. E-Safety in our education programs now, and it was quite a challenge for me to try and fit this into four minutes because there is quite an extensive range of programs there. We really want to focus on the specific needs of children and young people in different circumstances, always keeping in mind their fundamental rights to protection, participation and access to information. So this includes now programs, resources and training to support young people, their carers and educators from the zero to five age group, right up to young adults in their early 20s. Now in doing this, we’ve also ensured that we prioritise within these young people’s age groups. We know that specific cohorts are more at risk, and quite often these cohorts are those who are most likely to get the most benefit from engaging online. So in the Australian context, young people with a disability, for example, are more likely than the national average to encounter… at harmful and hurtful treatment online and hate speech and even physical threats. They’ve also been more likely to come across harmful content such as graphic violence and self-harm material. In Australia we know that LGBTIQ plus teens are much more likely than the national average to experience hurtful and hateful online interactions and also more likely than the national average to engage in risky online behaviours themselves and sharing personal information and sending messages that are sometimes inappropriate. And of course for Australia Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth are much more engaged than the general population in using the internet for cultural connections and staying informed about the world around them whether that be politics or news. But despite these positive cultural and newsworthy interactions sadly First Nations young people are three times more likely than the general population to be the targets of online hate and have offensive things said to them because of their race, ethnicity or gender. So when we talk about innovation of all the work we do I thought I wanted to call out two this evening, sorry today for you, that are really close to our hearts. Central to our commitment to children’s rights is our eSafety Youth Council. That’s a diverse group of young people for the ages of 13 to 24 from every state and territory in the country to ensure that young people’s voices are not just heard but acted upon when developing solutions, support and in helping us frame policy that impacts on young people. If we reflect on Article 12 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child it states that children have the right to express their views freely in all matters affecting them. Our Youth Council is really key for us to keep this principle at front and centre of the work we do. It’s not about doing work for young people, it’s about doing work with them. Our Youth Council has been involved in such a broad range of work at eSafety, everything from helping review content for our youth pages and to support teaching and our education models but also in shaping more broader policy decisions that will have a direct impact on young people. For an example they recently made a formal submission to the Australian Government’s social media inquiry and they’ve taken part in social media summits in two of our states, New South Wales and South Australia and they continue to be in high demand both within eSafety but also too from other key external stakeholders. And that leads me talking about those summits to children’s access to social media online and balancing rights and protections. I’m sure many of you would have heard now of the recent legislation that has just passed in Australia that’s going to prevent young people from under the age of 16 from accessing certain social media sites. These provisions are going to come into effect over the next 12 months and that’s when over that 12-month period is when we’re going to be able to specify which services and what regulatory mechanisms are going to be required to have this legislation enacted. There’s an awful lot of work to do in this space over a very short period of time and we’re building on our considerable work to date on these issues. We know that the relationship for young people between mental health, social media and online engagement is complex but we’re continuing to contribute our insights and research to assist the government and ensure that any new legislation such as this is effective in its measures and minimises the unintended consequences. But regardless of the access of young people, sorry, regardless of the age to access these certain sites, for us prevention and education will always be a foundation of eSafety’s work. It’s more important than ever for young people that we continue to work with them to build their digital literacy, their resilience and critical reasoning skills so that they’re prepared for the online environment regardless of what age they begin to engage with it. So as we continue to navigate a really complex landscape of online safety in a global world, we remain committed to listening to young voices, collaborating with other regulators and adapting our approach to meet the evolving needs and challenges in this digital world. Thank you. Thanks Paul. Incredible and really heartening to hear how the eSafety

Afrooz Kaviani Johnson: Commissioner is taking on board Article 12 of the CRC and really embedding that within all of your work. We should also note that we’re going to have some time for questions, hopefully at the end. So audience online and in the room, please start thinking about questions you may like to put to our panellists. So thank you. Thanks Paul. From Australia, I’m really delighted now to go to Albania and I have a question for Ms Floreta Faber, who as Jomana mentioned is the Deputy Director-General of Albania’s National Cyber Security Authority. So we’re really interested to hear how Albania is integrating child safety into its cyber security agenda. I hear that there is a new cyber security law in Albania and this includes a dedicated chapter on children. So could you tell us more about this and how you’re ensuring that ministries and departments are equipped with the latest knowledge and skills to effectively empower and support children online? Thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to be

Jumana Haj-Ahmad: part of this really fascinating discussion. Albania is a small country and we are very happy to be next to Australia now and we have been involved, really the Albanian government is committed to securing a resilient digital future for the Albanian people and especially for the young generation. And in order to realise this vision, of course we are focused on strongly protecting our critical and important infrastructures, but also protecting children

Floreta Faber: online. It is one of the main pillars of our work. The commitment is reflected in the inclusion of child online in the cyber security strategy for 2025 and we had it on the previous but now more developed in the new law on cyber security, which you mentioned, which came into force this May. The new law on cyber security is tasked with, has tasked the National Cyber Security Authority, undertaking all the measurements, the cooperation and coordinating of the work with all the institutions which are responsible for safety and protection of children and young people online, in order to create a safer online environment in Albania. This means preparing the new generation capable of benefiting from all the advantage of the new technologies and information technology, but also know the challenges of the new development and showing them that in today’s world the digital personality is of a high importance. In Albania we have seen this in different ways in order to address the issue. First, in order to, we believe it’s important to create a legal framework and the necessary mechanism that make all our government institutions but also the civil society work together. When I say public institution, the National Cyber Security Authority is coordinating the work, but State Police, Ministry of Education, State Agency for Child Rights and Protection, Audiovisual Media Authority, Electronic and Postal Communication Authority, People’s Advocate, they all play their own role in this field. We are trying to coordinate all the work that all the institutions do, in order to make sure that we cover the whole country with the issues on protecting children online. The National Cyber Security Authority has a reporting platform, where citizens can report directly cases of illegal online contact and also issues online. Last year we had a low number, but this year we have had over 250 cases, which people have reported to us, so we all send those cases to the police. In cases, we have done a questionnaire with children, which we have met through the Year in Awareness in-person events, and we have found out that TikTok and Snapchat is the most used platform from the young people. Especially when we had issues with TikTok, lately we sent our materials also to the Audiovisual Media Authority, who is directly talking with TikTok in order to prevent cases of using illegal contact. The FDA has implemented a number of initiatives during the years in order to protect children online. We are developing our strategy on protecting children, but in the last four or five years especially we have been working with ITU, UNICEF, U.S. government also support in trying to develop a number of initiatives in the country where we have been able to have various educational materials, videos, manuals, brochures, ways of awareness. And if I mention only in 2024, our authority together with the Children Protection Authority and with the support of UNICEF, we have organized, I can bring you some example, we have been on 28 schools around the country, 13 cities, 1,500 young students we have been talking with directly. We have been training the trainers, about 400 teachers in those schools, about 200 safety officers in schools in order to have everyone aware and educated and knowing which is the phone call they can make, where they can report in their cases. And we have organized a number of workshops and roundtables with different authorities, with teachers representative from local government, from high level government in order for everyone to play a role, what are the changes needed to be done and what is the awareness needed. We have some really cases of where kids have issues out of using the social media. And I can say that lately, when I say lately, like in the last month or two, we have the entire Albanian government addressing the issue for need of awareness in protection of children online. We are having a public discussion, it’s open to all schools around the country, talking with teachers, parents and students, how to address the issue. We have had our Prime Minister Edi Rama, who has been talking in a number of those consultations, addressing the issue, and we are trying to find what’s the best way to address the issue. Now, we are also talking, are we closing TikTok and Snapchat in Albania? But what we’re determined to do is really to address the issue, whatever is the best way to have our kids online, it’s as you said, our kids, our nieces and our nephews. If I quote the Albanian Prime Minister, he said there is no solution if there is no direct involvement in family, schools, both parents and teacher, and of course, all the government institutions in order to increase, expand, and say for, expand the safety parameter for our children. One new item where I would like to add, we believe that international collaboration for protecting children online is absolutely important, on top of the events that will continue next year in February on the day of Internet of Children Safety Online, we’re putting, we’re chairing an event with 13 countries from Southeast European Cooperation Process Initiative in order to speak not only sharing the experience, but try to share the resources we have for protecting children online. And in the process, I am happy to see that in a way the same as Australia, we have seen that the online protection of children is not enough. In the new strategy 2530, we’re, we’re putting the protection of all citizens online with a special emphasis and a special chapter, because we, we understand that in particular children, teachers, safety officers should be equipped with necessary knowledge, but also underrepresented in groups, it’s very important to be involved in all our work. We have started already doing events, but the new strategy is going to have a more organized framework on how to speak with people with different disabilities, Roma community, LGBT down community, people over age 65, and all those groups. So thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to share some of our experiences.

Afrooz Kaviani Johnson: Thank you so much, Floretta, that was amazing. And I know that it was a hard task that we gave everyone to try and, you know, synthesize the developments in four minutes, but really fantastic to hear the accelerated progress, I think, particularly in recent years, and just the whole of society effort that that is being led in Albania. Thank you. So from Albania, I’m really happy now to introduce again, Mr. Richard Wingfield to give us a different perspective from from his organization, which is BSR, Business for Social Responsibility. So Richard, really interested to hear about your work with companies. So we’ve, you know, there’s been a couple of mention of some tech companies so far. And just to hear what are the gaps and promising trends that you are seeing in relation to current industry practices, when it comes to children’s rights and technology, over to you, Richard.

Jumana Haj-Ahmad: Great, well, thank you so much for for inviting us. And I’m really glad to be able to talk about our experience.

Richard Wingfield: So for those of you who are not familiar, BSR is a global nonprofit, and we work with companies to turn human rights principles and laws and standards into practice using the framework of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. And as part of our human rights work, we’re increasingly being asked by companies to integrate respect for children’s rights into their products and services, but also their broader business and corporate responsibility strategies, processes and plans. And we’ve worked with UNICEF and a number of other actors over the years with our member companies, and we have over 300 of the world’s largest companies who are members and others. And the last few years have definitely seen an increasing interest in ensuring that children’s rights are protected in the digital environment. And that may come from regulatory requirements, such as the Digital Services Act or the Online Safety Act in the EU and the UK, which talk about looking at risks to children and the protection of fundamental rights. It could mean undertaking children’s rights impact assessments. It could mean looking at how companies are using their reporting and disclosure obligations. In all of these different ways, companies thinking about the importance of protecting children and the rights of children as part of their broader human rights responsibilities when it comes to technology and the digital environment. So I’ve tried to put together a few of the promising trends and then a few of the gaps to try and answer your question as helpfully as possible. The first promising trend is that the approaches that we’re seeing companies take to protecting children online are definitely evolving and becoming more sophisticated. So historically, we saw largely that efforts were focused on just parental controls. So really just giving parents the sort of the power to control their children’s online experience and sort of putting all of the effort and emphasis onto parents. This is still helpful, definitely, but we’re seeing more sophisticated approaches taken. So these can mean things like different kinds of content classification for different age groups of children, promoting digital safety education and how to use technology and products safely, undertaking more risk assessments of new features and services and thinking about how they will affect children, introducing different controls and access requirements for different age groups based on the development stage of children. So just becoming a lot more sophisticated in the techniques that are used to try to keep children safe online while still protecting their rights. We’re also seeing new regulation really driving a lot of efforts. And I mentioned some examples a moment ago. So we’re seeing in the EU, for example, the Digital Safety Act requires large online platforms and search engines to consider risks to children, including to children’s rights and to undertake risk assessments of changes to their products and services as well. In the UK, our Online Safety Act, which is now coming into force, also forces companies to think about risks to children and particularly experiences of harmful content or behaviour online. The Australian Online Safety Act and some of the regulatory developments in Australia have also been referenced. And I know the role of the E-Safety Commissioner has sort of been an example to many regulators around the world in terms of its approach to keeping children safe online. And then finally, we’re also seeing more companies do children’s rights impact assessments. So these are specific targeted assessments as new products and features are being developed to really think about how they may impact upon children’s rights, as set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and then to take steps. mitigate risks to children as they’re finalised. There are still some gaps, one of which is the moment the impacts on children online have very much been driven largely by safety considerations and while this is incredibly important it’s also important to remember the opportunities to promote and advance children’s rights that come through technology and so thinking about how you integrate considerations around protecting children’s right to freedom of expression, their right to privacy, and other important fundamental rights as part of these assessment processes is an area where we think more work could be done. We’re also seeing that assessments are generally focused on a lot of like very well-known high-profile issues, for example things like children’s sexual abuse material, bullying and so forth and what we would like to see I think is a greater emphasis and a more holistic approach to the four ways that children can be impacted online and so that greater attention is paid to some of the lesser known issues, for example the way that children might be exploited in supply chains or forced labour issues, the protection of children’s privacy online as well. And the other gap that I think I want to highlight is at the moment we still don’t have enough transparency, so a lot of companies are undertaking this work but it’s not necessarily made public. We know that a number of companies have concerns around disclosing information because of legal liability risks or reputational risks, but we would love to see companies talking a lot more about the efforts that they are making, not just the changes in terms of products or features that they have created, but the actual process by which they engaged in undertaking those assessments, including how they engaged with children and children’s rights organisations so that that stakeholder engagement aspect is much more apparent and visible. We’d also finally maybe like to see a bit more data being produced by companies, so we know that there is an increasing emphasis by regulators on certain metrics around, for example, types of harmful content. Again it would be great to see companies producing more of this data proactively and perhaps also becoming more nuanced in the data that’s provided, so we could see how different age groups of children are being affected or how different vulnerable groups, and Floretta mentioned some of the other groups who might be impacted specifically, for example, ethnic minorities, young girls or children who identify as LGBTQ+. So there’s definitely some area for improvement but we are seeing some promising trends as well.

Afrooz Kaviani Johnson: Thanks a lot Richard. I think BSR has quite a unique view on these issues, so I think that was extremely insightful in a very limited time, but just giving us some cause for optimism, but also really clear areas where more work is needed. So I’m going to hand back to Germana and the

Jumana Haj-Ahmad: panellists in the room. Thank you Afrooz and thank you so much for the insightful interventions, amazing work really done in different sectors. And now we’d like to come back to Miss Helen Mason, the Director of Operations of the Child Helpline International. Thank you so much for being with us. The child helplines, which are operating in 130 countries, play a crucial role in supporting children across various aspects of their lives, including their online experiences. So can you share with us some insights from your data on children’s online experience and lives, but also how you’ve been using technology to enable a safer environment for children digitally?

Helen Mason: Thank you and good afternoon, that’s better. Well, it’s been a pleasure to be on this esteemed panel with my fellow panellists today, and thank you very much for the invitation. So yes, I will answer the question. Thank you very much for the question. But I’d also like to start by, I suppose, start by talking about the characteristics of child helplines, that child helplines are a response mechanism for children and young people in any aspect of their lives, and also a preventative mechanism as well. And I also want to highlight that I think that while the legislation is changing, by any of the accounts we’ve heard today, we are still designing retroactively for the online space in regard to children’s rights, and that’s very much evident in our own work. To mention here as well, that child helplines are key to the response to online harms as part of the We Protect model national response, and to that effect, over the last years, we’ve been developing different methods and capacity buildings around this type of issue that might come through to a child helpline. That means capacity building for our members, it also means around data frameworks, collecting data from our members on these types of issues. So regarding the question and regarding the data that’s collected by our child helpline members, important to say perhaps that it’s a unique resource, the data that we collect directly from the voices of children, in the sense that it’s also a byproduct really of the conversations that go on between children and young people and child helpline counsellors, and collecting that data and being able to collect that data in a timely fashion is really crucial to the way we can use that information to amplify children’s voices. So suffice to say that technology has had a huge impact on that particular aspect of our work in terms of data capture, data analysis, and also now looking at, for example, AI tools to analyse the chat information that comes through from child helplines, from children to child helplines. So in terms of the actual data we collect, of course, it can provide a unique insight into the lives of children, and it can be a very robust data source in terms of help-seeking behaviour, and we do believe that it should form part of policy and programming, you know, national, regionally, and globally. I would like to state that the most common reason for children and young people to contact a child helpline is mental health first and foremost, and violence secondly, and those are 32 percent and 24 percent of counselling contacts respectively. So we can also state that based on the data we collect that girls are more likely to contact child helplines than boys, with 52 percent of contacts coming from girls. And I think that what I would also like to share here is that our latest report on online child sexual exploitation and abuse, we see cases increasing as of 2018 when we first started to collect bespoke data on this, and that we also, I would say, report substantial issues around disclosure, substantial issues around taboos, substantial issues around under-reporting, and of course it’s very important for us to develop methods and strategies to deal with this together with our members and together with our different and many partners, including UNICEF, including We Protect, ICMEC, IWF, for example. I also want to highlight what we can also read in the data, is that in terms of non-binary contacts we can also see that there’s higher incidence of suicidal ideation, and those reports are more likely to be made via online methods. And I think that another aspect of the data that we see is around the method of contact, so child helplines optimally operating 24-7, free of charge, over the years have adopted and launched multiple channels of access, so you’ll be quite familiar, perhaps in your own country, with child helpline access that is coming through chat, through all types of online means, through voice as well, but essentially through all the different places that child children themselves are present. So it’s incredibly important that as child helplines being responsive to children, they need to be present in the places where children are. So that of course means working with different online platforms to develop ways to intersect with those platforms, to provide seamless referral to a child helpline service. So I think that bearing in mind that child helplines have always existed at the intersection of technology and child rights, partnerships with the industry is absolutely vital, and over the last years we’ve been spending time developing partners carefully with industry partners. partners like Snapchat, like Meta, Roblox, Discord, to see how those referral mechanisms can be integrated within platforms so that children and young people can find help when they need it, when it’s time critical. And so one of the big challenges we have is around raising awareness, raising awareness that, for example, a child might not know that there’s a crime committed, they might not be able to talk or disclose this information, so raising awareness in a preventative sense is absolutely vital, and that for us, of course, simply means raising awareness that you can talk to a child helpline about these issues. So I want to just close now. I want to say as well what really matters to me and Child Helpline International is also the 50-plus countries around the world without this kind of service. So given the role that we identify for child helplines in responding to online harms, it’s urgent and it’s our aim to fill that gap by 2030 to have a child helpline in every country of the world so that when a child needs to speak to someone, wherever they are, they can contact a child helpline. Thank you.

Jumana Haj-Ahmad: Thank you so much, Helen. We also have a child helpline here, actually, in Saudi Arabia, and I had the chance to discuss with the director some of the priority issues that Saudi children face here, and it’s very similar to also what you were saying, mental health is a key issue, and being subjected to violence is also another. Okay, so I think we have some time. We have seven minutes, and we are able to take a few questions from the floor here and a few from colleagues joining us online. So we have two questions here, so I think you’ll need to speak in the mic. Try to speak from where you are, and let’s see, but I doubt it. I think you’ll need the mic.

Audience: Hello, my name is Vicky Harisi, I’m from Harvard University and I work on artificial intelligence and child’s rights. My question, and first of all, thank you for all the amazing work that all of you do, it’s super impressive. I think my question is mostly for Mr. Clark from Australia, and I’m very curious to hear if you have tried to collect any data about adolescents’ reaction on your government’s decision to ban some social media platforms from them. I’m just curious to hear if you have any sense about this. Thank you. Thank you.

Paul Clark: As I mentioned, our youth council did provide formal submissions. We haven’t, as now, the mechanisms come into play, and we’re looking at which platforms will be excluded and the leverage that we’re going to have to use to look at how that’s implemented. I think we will be undertaking more study. Up to this date, most of our research, which is always published on our website, has looked at particular cohorts of young people to understand their experiences online, so to understand the benefits they receive, how they’re engaging and using technology, but also the specific risks that they’re facing. Part of the implementation of this legislation for us is we will be doing a full evaluation, so we’re about to now start a baseline research piece to really get that clear understanding and to follow that over the next two years to evaluate the legislation, so that’s not something that we have available right at this moment. Let’s take a question from participants online over to you, Afrooz, and then we’ll come back here, because we have two more questions here in the room, but I see that there is a hand up online. God’s Way Kubi. Yes, there’s a hand up online. I’m not sure if I can give… Hello, can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Great. Please go ahead. Please, can I be allowed to share my video? I don’t know. Okay, so while that is being worked on, I can go ahead. Okay, thank you so much.

Audience: Actually, I’m God’s Way Kubi, the lead facilitator for Internet Society Online Safety SIG, and I think I joined this quite a little bit late, but the conversation alone keeps me more interested, especially coming to listen to Mr. Paul Clark first. I got more interested, and so online safety, I would just like to say that we are currently working on projects. Yes, so actually, my intention is to get more collaboration from this organization, so we are working on a project in that developing a comprehensive online safety benchmark that will be used globally, and this will serve as a valuable tool for organizations and individuals, and our focus basically is on child online safety and also the use of social media and websites, how individuals could basically protect themselves using this particular site, but our focus is on children. So our target regions are actually sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin, and North America. Those are some of the regions that we are hoping to engage some key organizations in those regions, particularly so that we could be able to cover a wider range and also to have a comprehensive online safety benchmark being done. So having had a project that Mr. Clark and other panelists have worked on, I would greatly like that maybe possibly if they could share their emails, I would like to collaborate on any of the projects they are currently working on and also get involved in our project as well to make our own also a success, because we are the Internet Society. We are trying to make it global. We are putting it on a global scale, so getting an organization involved and collaborate on this project is one of the key things that we value, so that is the little I could say from my end, but I think the chat is being disabled, so I’m unable to share. I saw an email, so I don’t know. Thanks, Godzway. No, that’s great. I mean, that’s one of the wonderful things about IGF, right, making the connections. We can talk with the technical folks and see how we can exchange contacts. Thank you so much. You’re welcome. Back to you, Jomana. Thank you so much, Afrouz.

Afrooz Kaviani Johnson: We have five minutes left. If we can take quickly one question from the room here. Over to you. Thank you. Hi there. My name is Andrew Camping.

Audience: I’m a trustee with Internet Watch Foundation. Really interesting presentations. You may or may not be aware that there are changes in Internet standards which will bypass content filtering and parental controls, exposing children to inappropriate, age-inappropriate content much more easily, and also allow tech companies to give them plausible deniability, a horrible phrase, so that they don’t see some of that illegal or unsuitable content. Is that something that you’re aware of, and how do we get more child protection groups involved in the development of Internet standards to prevent these things from happening in the future? Really appreciate your thoughts. Thank you.

Jumana Haj-Ahmad: I’m happy to jump in. Yes, please go ahead. Sorry, I was just going to jump in with two quick, quick points around that.

Paul Clark: One of the key things we push, initiatives we push in Australia, is safety by design. All these add-on parental controls and safety measures that are completed at the tail end often just demonstrate the failure in understanding and setting up a platform or an app with safety as the primary principle to begin with. One of the following pieces of legislation which the Australian government is about to bring in, post the age restriction piece, is an Internet duty of care. So putting a legal obligation back on the platforms that they must keep the safety and security of their users paramount. And so they will be held responsible for that. Thank you, Paul. I know that we have two more questions here in the room, but unfortunately we will need to close this session. So I would like to thank our esteemed panellists for your participation with us today and for the audience for joining us. Thank you so much for the rich discussion.

Jumana Haj-Ahmad: Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Thank you.

Agreement Points

Developing comprehensive national strategies for child online protection

Maimoonah Al Khalil

Alaa Al-Fadil

Floreta Faber

Paul Clark

Developing comprehensive frameworks and policies

Coordinating efforts across government, private sector, and civil society

Integrating child safety into cybersecurity agendas

Implementing education and awareness programs

Multiple speakers emphasized the importance of developing comprehensive national strategies that involve various stakeholders to protect children online.

Engaging youth voices in policy development

Paul Clark

Helen Mason

Engaging youth voices in policy development

Providing accessible helplines and support services

Both speakers highlighted the importance of involving young people in the development of policies and services that affect them.

Collecting and analyzing data on children’s online experiences

Helen Mason

Richard Wingfield

Alaa Al-Fadil

Collecting data on help-seeking behaviors and issues faced by children

Improving transparency and data sharing by companies

Conducting surveys and research to inform policy

Multiple speakers emphasized the importance of collecting and analyzing data to better understand children’s online experiences and inform policy decisions.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers advocate for integrating safety measures into the design of digital platforms and services from the outset, rather than relying solely on after-the-fact solutions like parental controls.

Paul Clark

Richard Wingfield

Promoting safety by design principles

Evolving approaches to child protection beyond parental controls

Both speakers emphasize the importance of addressing the specific needs of vulnerable groups in online safety initiatives and support services.

Floreta Faber

Helen Mason

Addressing needs of vulnerable groups

Providing accessible helplines and support services

Unexpected Consensus

Collaboration between government and private sector

Maimoonah Al Khalil

Alaa Al-Fadil

Helen Mason

Richard Wingfield

Developing comprehensive frameworks and policies

Coordinating efforts across government, private sector, and civil society

Partnering with platforms to integrate help services

Conducting children’s rights impact assessments for new products/features

There was an unexpected level of agreement on the need for collaboration between government, private sector, and civil society in addressing child online safety. This consensus spans across different regions and sectors, indicating a growing recognition of the need for multi-stakeholder approaches.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of agreement include developing comprehensive national strategies, engaging youth voices, collecting and analyzing data on children’s online experiences, promoting safety by design, and addressing the needs of vulnerable groups.

Consensus level

There is a high level of consensus among the speakers on the need for multi-stakeholder collaboration and comprehensive approaches to child online safety. This consensus suggests a growing global recognition of the complexity of the issue and the need for coordinated efforts across sectors and regions. The implications of this consensus could lead to more effective international cooperation and knowledge sharing in developing and implementing child online safety measures.

Different Viewpoints

Approach to regulating children’s access to social media

Paul Clark

Floreta Faber

Australia is pushing for safety by design as a key initiative. This approach emphasizes building safety measures into platforms and apps from the beginning, rather than adding them as afterthoughts.

Albania is trying to find what’s the best way to address the issue. Now, we are also talking, are we closing TikTok and Snapchat in Albania?

While Australia focuses on safety by design and legal obligations for platforms, Albania is considering more restrictive measures like potentially closing certain social media platforms for children.

Unexpected Differences

Overall Assessment

summary

The main areas of disagreement revolve around the specific approaches to implementing child online protection strategies, ranging from education and awareness to legal frameworks and potential platform restrictions.

difference_level

The level of disagreement among the speakers is relatively low. Most participants agree on the importance of protecting children online and the need for comprehensive strategies. The differences mainly lie in the specific implementation approaches, which are often complementary rather than contradictory. This low level of disagreement suggests a generally unified direction in addressing child online protection, which could facilitate more effective international cooperation and knowledge sharing in this area.

Partial Agreements

All speakers agree on the need for comprehensive national strategies to protect children online, but they differ in their specific approaches and focus areas. Some emphasize legal frameworks, others focus on education and awareness, while some prioritize coordination across different sectors.

Maimoonah Al Khalil

Alaa Al-Fadil

Floreta Faber

Paul Clark

The Family Affairs Council in Saudi Arabia launched the National Framework for Child Safety Online in 2023. This framework covers four main areas: awareness, enablement, prevention, and protection, with 10 tracks to achieve progress in these areas.

The Global Cyber Security Forum (GCF) is leading a Child Protection in Cyberspace initiative with ambitious targets. The initiative aims to develop child protection frameworks in over 50 countries, upskill 60 million people, and protect 150 million children globally.

Albania has included child online protection in its cyber security strategy for 2025 and in the new law on cyber security. The National Cyber Security Authority is tasked with coordinating efforts across institutions to create a safer online environment for children.

Australia’s E-Safety Commissioner focuses on education programs tailored to specific needs of children and young people. These programs cover various age groups from zero to five up to young adults in their early 20s.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers advocate for integrating safety measures into the design of digital platforms and services from the outset, rather than relying solely on after-the-fact solutions like parental controls.

Paul Clark

Richard Wingfield

Promoting safety by design principles

Evolving approaches to child protection beyond parental controls

Both speakers emphasize the importance of addressing the specific needs of vulnerable groups in online safety initiatives and support services.

Floreta Faber

Helen Mason

Addressing needs of vulnerable groups

Providing accessible helplines and support services

Key Takeaways

Many countries are developing comprehensive national strategies and frameworks for child online protection, involving coordination across government, private sector, and civil society

Industry practices are evolving beyond basic parental controls to more sophisticated approaches like children’s rights impact assessments and safety-by-design principles

There is a need to balance protecting children online with empowering them and respecting their rights to access, participation, and privacy

Data collection and research on children’s online experiences is crucial to inform policy and interventions, but more transparency is needed from companies

Accessible support services like child helplines play a vital role in responding to online harms and collecting data on children’s experiences

Resolutions and Action Items

Australia to implement new legislation restricting social media access for under-16s and introducing an Internet duty of care for platforms

Albania to develop a new strategy for 2025-2030 focused on protecting all citizens online, with special emphasis on children and underrepresented groups

Child Helpline International aims to establish child helplines in 50+ additional countries by 2030

Unresolved Issues

How to effectively engage children and youth voices in policy development related to online safety

Addressing potential unintended consequences of age restrictions for social media access

Improving transparency and data sharing from technology companies about their child protection efforts

Ensuring child protection considerations are integrated into the development of new Internet standards and technologies

Suggested Compromises

Balancing safety measures with children’s rights to access information and participate online

Combining technological solutions with education and awareness programs to protect children online

The diversity of perspectives, the diversity of the people joining this discussion, really emphasizes and underscores that a collective action is needed to ensure that children and adolescents are safe in the digital space.

speaker

Jumana Haj-Ahmad

reason

This comment sets the tone for the entire discussion by emphasizing the need for collaboration across sectors and stakeholders to address child online safety.

impact

It framed the subsequent presentations as part of a collective effort, encouraging speakers to highlight collaborative approaches.

To coordinate these efforts and to enable greater impact for these initiatives and to apply a holistic approach that covers all aspects of child online safety, the Family Affairs Council in 2023 launched the National Framework for Child Safety Online.

speaker

Maimoonah Al Khalil

reason

This introduces a concrete example of a coordinated national approach to child online safety, demonstrating how policy can be implemented.

impact

It provided a model for other countries to consider and set a benchmark for comprehensive policy approaches discussed by subsequent speakers.

Central to our commitment to children’s rights is our eSafety Youth Council. That’s a diverse group of young people for the ages of 13 to 24 from every state and territory in the country to ensure that young people’s voices are not just heard but acted upon when developing solutions, support and in helping us frame policy that impacts on young people.

speaker

Paul Clark

reason

This comment highlights the importance of including children’s voices in policy-making, aligning with Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

impact

It shifted the discussion towards the importance of child participation in online safety initiatives, influencing subsequent speakers to address this aspect.

The approaches that we’re seeing companies take to protecting children online are definitely evolving and becoming more sophisticated. So historically, we saw largely that efforts were focused on just parental controls. So really just giving parents the sort of the power to control their children’s online experience and sort of putting all of the effort and emphasis onto parents. This is still helpful, definitely, but we’re seeing more sophisticated approaches taken.

speaker

Richard Wingfield

reason

This comment provides insight into the evolving corporate approaches to child online safety, moving beyond simple parental controls.

impact

It broadened the discussion to include the role of private sector innovation in addressing online safety, prompting consideration of multi-stakeholder approaches.

Child helplines optimally operating 24-7, free of charge, over the years have adopted and launched multiple channels of access, so you’ll be quite familiar, perhaps in your own country, with child helpline access that is coming through chat, through all types of online means, through voice as well, but essentially through all the different places that child children themselves are present.

speaker

Helen Mason

reason

This comment highlights the adaptation of support services to meet children where they are in the digital space, demonstrating practical application of child-centric approaches.

impact

It introduced the perspective of direct support services, rounding out the discussion by addressing the immediate needs of children facing online risks.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by emphasizing the need for collaborative, comprehensive, and child-centric approaches to online safety. They highlighted the importance of policy frameworks, youth participation, private sector innovation, and accessible support services. The discussion evolved from broad policy considerations to specific implementations and direct support mechanisms, providing a holistic view of the challenges and solutions in ensuring children’s safety and rights in the digital space.

What data has been collected on adolescents’ reactions to Australia’s decision to ban some social media platforms for users under 16?

speaker

Vicky Harisi from Harvard University

explanation

This information would provide valuable insights into how the target population views and is impacted by the new legislation.

How can child protection groups become more involved in the development of Internet standards to prevent bypassing of content filtering and parental controls?

speaker

Andrew Camping, trustee with Internet Watch Foundation

explanation

This involvement could help ensure that child safety considerations are integrated into Internet standards from the beginning, rather than added as an afterthought.

How can organizations collaborate on developing a comprehensive global online safety benchmark?

speaker

Godsway Kubi from Internet Society Online Safety SIG

explanation

Collaboration on this project could lead to a more robust and widely applicable tool for improving online safety, particularly for children.

How can companies be encouraged to be more transparent about their efforts to protect children’s rights online?

speaker

Richard Wingfield from BSR

explanation

Increased transparency could lead to better understanding of effective practices and areas for improvement in protecting children’s rights in the digital space.

How can child helplines be established in the 50+ countries currently without such services?

speaker

Helen Mason from Child Helpline International

explanation

Expanding child helpline services globally would provide crucial support and protection for children in countries currently lacking these resources.