Shaza calls for global laws to protect children online

ISLAMABAD:

Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja on Monday called for global laws to protect children from the harmful effects of the internet.

Addressing the "Safe Scroll: Protecting Our Children Online" event, she said children's interest in information technology was growing worldwide, with even young children achieving major milestones in the field.

Children could not be kept away from information technology, she added.

Shaza Fatima said there was a need to determine the appropriate level of internet access and screen time for children and establish clear limits.

She said several countries, particularly 20 to 25 member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), were considering frameworks and laws to regulate children's use of social media and the internet.

Australia, Malaysia and Thailand were among the countries taking steps in this direction.

The minister said governments alone could not verify the age of every child online or fully monitor their activities. Therefore, major technology companies and digital platforms also needed to take responsibility for age verification and content monitoring through artificial intelligence (AI) and other advanced tools.

Highlighting awareness initiatives, she said the Ministry of IT had launched the "Safe Raho" programme in collaboration with Google, focusing on parental controls and family safety.

She said 12,500 students, teachers and parents had received digital safety training in 100 public schools through a joint initiative involving Telenor and the National Cyber Crime Research Centre (NCRC).

She added that progress had also been made in collaboration with Meta to introduce stricter AI-based controls for children's accounts.

Meanwhile, the "Junior Cyber Heroes" initiative, launched in collaboration with PK-CERT and UNICEF, was raising awareness among children about online safety.