BLOG POST
12 August 2024 is International Youth Day, created by the United Nations to promote causes for youth health, safety, and inclusion.
This year’s theme is ‘From Clicks To Progress: Youth Digital Pathways For Sustainable Development,’ which centres on the inclusion of youth in digital innovation which will advance the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Young people today are the first to be born and raised fully in a digital world: many are capable of operating smart devices even as toddlers. Their innate understanding makes their input in creating sustainable tech invaluable.
However, this greater exposure to technology comes with heightened risks as the digital environments are not always safe. Online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA) is rampant, with over 36 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation being submitted to the National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)’s CyberTipline in 2023 alone.
Many types of OCSEA stem from a lack of proper safeguarding measures in technology practices, such as those outlined in our research report Tech Platforms Used by Online Child Sexual Abuse Offenders. The lack of monitoring measures in end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) platforms allows for offenders to share child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and groom children without fear of detection . Furthermore, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been used to generate new CSAM.
Many parents and caregivers, unfamiliar with newer platforms, are unaware of the dangers that can be hidden within. Our research finds that offenders operate on seemingly innocent platforms (such as video games) in order to groom children and lure them into communicating on encrypted channels. This occurs also on platforms with age restrictions, such as social media. Age verification measures can be as easy to bypass as clicking a button. When parents are unaware of their children’s internet habits, the risks for online abuse grow.
For these reasons, child safeguarding measures in technology are of critical importance. In order to properly support youth in innovation, we must make the digital environment they exist in safe. Protect Children has created several ways to do so. For tech companies, we have created a set of Actionable Recommendations to ensure child safety on their platforms. For parents, caregivers, and teachers looking to keep their children safe, we have created digital safety learning materials with our Online Road Safety and #MyFriendToo projects.
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