Children and young people are routinely treated as passive subjects in digital policy debates, according to Lisa Dittmer, Paloma Candia, and Ahmed Dhman. Writing in TechPolicy.Press, the authors note that while online safety has surged to the forefront of global politics, the actual voices of youth remain absent from decision-making spaces.
High-Level Pledges Without Youth Representation
Global political leaders have increasingly championed restrictive measures under the banner of child safety. French President Emmanuel Macron previously praised France’s teen social media ban as leading Europe in protecting minors, though France’s top court ultimately blocked the legislation due to privacy and freedom of expression concerns. Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Guterres called for an artificial intelligence Child Safety Pledge.
Despite these high-profile initiatives, children’s participation is largely sidelined. When a new state coalition for the protection of children launched its work at the UN AI Dialogue in July, not a single child spoke, aside from a brief prerecorded video. Kenya, a state party to that coalition, has debated an artificial intelligence bill that lacks child-specific protections or consultation mechanisms.
Performative Politics Versus Systemic Reform
According to the Amnesty International researchers, paternalistic policymaking reduces digital rights to a matter of mitigating harm rather than fulfilling rights. Youth-led organizations including ctrl+alt+reclaim, Design it for Us, and Flippgen have pressed for solutions targeting manipulative design and privacy violations across social media, games, and chatbots. Yet political leaders often favor quick-win bans that appease adult voters while ignoring root causes.
Evidence from Australia indicates that sweeping teen bans fail to stop youth from accessing platforms, leaving those who evade restrictions or remain unexcluded exposed to online harms while cutting them off from community and information. Core digital rights challenges, such as invasive data collection, continue to go unaddressed.
Surveillance and State Repression
Children grow up navigating constant data tracking, from prenatal advertising profiles to school safeguarding tools, biometric attendance tracking, and AI-enabled behavior management. Governments advocating teen social media bans have simultaneously embraced AI integration in schools without adequate privacy safeguards.
Furthermore, authorities in nations including Turkey, Vietnam, and the United Arab Emirates are leveraging child safety arguments to advance measures impacting internet privacy and free expression.
Demands for Meaningful Inclusion
The Amnesty International researchers argue that lasting digital policies require the direct inclusion of diverse young people as experts on their own experiences. Rather than tokenistic consultations, governments must establish safe frameworks for youth input and demonstrate policy accountability. Regulators are urged to invest in digital literacy, enforce mandatory user agency, ban manipulative design, and restrict both corporate power and state surveillance.
Mark Igathe, a Kenyan high school student, highlighted this core tension in a winning entry for Amnesty Kenya’s digital rights essay competition, writing that nobody should have to choose between their safety and their voice.
