Rights groups oppose children's digital exclusion

Stress access to information, learning, expression and participation

LAHORE:

Several digital and child rights groups have cautioned that blanket bans or age-based prohibitions on children's access to social media are a flawed and regressive response to risks including online abuse, exploitation, harassment and exposure to harmful content.

Such measures shift responsibility away from the government and technology companies and place the burden on children and families, the Digital Rights Foundation, Search for Justice, Child Rights Movement (Punjab), and Children Advocacy Network (Pakistan) asserted in a joint statement.

They emphasised that online safety was a critical child protection issue requiring urgent, coordinated and effective action.

Children face real and growing risks in digital spaces. These risks persist due to regulatory gaps, weak platform accountability, and inadequate government oversight of digital environments.

However, the groups stressed, bans undermined children's rights to information, learning, expression, and participation, while failing to address the systemic conditions that enable online harm.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has affirmed that children's rights apply fully in the digital environment and called for protection alongside access, participation, and empowerment, rather than exclusion from digital spaces, particularly in contexts where regulatory and data protection safeguards remain weak.

In Pakistan's digital ecosystem, blanket bans are also technically difficult to enforce and risk pushing children toward unregulated and unsafe online spaces, thereby reducing opportunities for guidance, safeguarding, and early intervention, they cautioned.

The organisations cautioned that many age-based restriction proposals rely on intrusive age-verification and monitoring mechanisms that risk expanding surveillance of children. In the absence of a comprehensive data protection framework, such measures could expose children's personal data to misuse, profiling, and long-term harm, undermining privacy and safety in the name of protection.

Protecting children online requires regulation, not exclusion. Clear child-safety obligations for digital platforms, age-appropriate design and safety standards, effective responses to online abuse and exploitation, and investment in digital literacy and parental support are essential components of a rights-based approach to child online protection, they added.