Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

Children take selfies after swimming in Malabon City on April 1, 2022. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News

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<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/178004331752120220401-dry-season-malabon-GC-4564.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Children take selfies after swimming in Malabon City on April 1, 2022. <em>George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News/File</em></span></span></span></div><p>GENEVA, Switzerland — Making the digital world safe for children is an urgent priority, the United Nations said Friday, adding that those those responsible for online harm must be held to account.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/2/9/higher-awareness-sought-to-combat-online-abuse-of-children-1606">&#x27;What is OSAEC?&#x27;: Higher awareness sought to combat online abuse of children</a></div><p>UN rights chief Volker Turk said states had to force tech giants to embed child safety, and said child harm was the direct result of business practices and design choices.</p><p>&quot;The digital world that connects children to learning, community, and creativity also exposes them to real risks to their safety, privacy, and wellbeing,&quot; Turk said in a statement.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/11/3/lgus-reminded-on-ordinances-protecting-children-from-online-sexual-abuse-exploitation-1613">LGUs reminded on ordinances protecting children from online sexual abuse, exploitation</a></div><p>&quot;Online harms to kids&#x27; safety, privacy and wellbeing are not innate or inevitable; they result from design choices and business practices that undermine safety, including addictive design features, such as infinite scroll, autoplay, and persistent notifications from apps.</p><p>&quot;Enhancing protection of children online is an urgent priority that we need to make sure not only gets done—but that it gets done right,&quot; he added.</p><p>The UN high commissioner for human rights called for tougher measures by countries and tech firms to make online platforms safe places for children, through better regulation, oversight and accountability.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/5/21/dswd-seeks-to-amend-online-child-exploitation-law-to-cover-ai-1544">DSWD seeks to amend online child exploitation law to cover AI</a></div><p>&quot;Blanket social media bans are not a one-off panacea,&quot; Turk added.</p><p>&quot;Simply limiting access to platforms that remain unsafe cannot stand as the endpoint in effectively protecting children.&quot;</p><p>He called for platforms to be made safer by design and ensure that data is protected, while &quot;those responsible for harm can held to account&quot;.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;MICRO-TARGETING&#x27; OF KIDS<br/></strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Turk said simply focusing on age restrictions would leave unaltered the designs and algorithms that made the platforms unsafe in the first place.</p><p>Tech giants must embed safety &quot;by design, instead of shifting the burden to parents and children&quot;, he said.</p><p>The UN rights chief also said experience so far showed that bans could be easily circumvented and voiced concern that such bans could even end up pushing children to riskier, even less monitored platforms.</p><p>His office produced a set of 10 guidelines entitled &quot;Getting Children&#x27;s Safety Online Right&quot;.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/technology/2026/2/12/globe-says-boosts-safeguards-to-protect-children-online-1822">Globe says boosts safeguards to protect children online</a></div><p>These included ensuring the maximum protection of children&#x27;s data as a default setting, while the &quot;micro-targeting&quot; of children for commercial purposes, based on a digital record, &quot;should not be permitted.&quot;</p><p>They said emerging concerns such as restrictions on artificial intelligence chatbot use or addictive design features may warrant age restrictions.</p><p>Measures should be subject to independent oversight, with legal consequences that serve as deterrents, the guidelines said.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/7/14/poverty-pushes-parents-to-sell-babies-online-chr-1359">Poverty pushes parents to sell babies online - CHR</a></div><p>There should also be access to remedy for children whose rights are violated.</p><p>&quot;Whatever regulations are adopted, it is essential to avoid inadvertently causing further harms. For example, age verification done wrong can both fail at its goal and endanger the privacy of both kids and adults,&quot; said Turk.</p><div><strong><br/></strong></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEOS</strong></div><div><strong><br/><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dIGwVnYvi9c?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aQy7DB6CRA4?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/flbGciJHTGg?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Making the digital world safe for children is an urgent priority, the United Nations said Friday, adding that those those responsible for online harm must be held to account.</p>

Making the digital world safe for children is an urgent priority, the United Nations said Friday, adding that those those responsible for online harm must be held to account.

UN says protecting children online an 'urgent priority'

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UN says protecting children online an 'urgent priority'

Robin Millard,

Agence France-Presse

Published May 29, 2026 04:30 PM PHT

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