Introduction
Generally, the contemporary child understands the concept of the Internet, and he or she is aware of the existence of high technology appliances, which have led to a situation where it is claimed that one in every three internet users in the world is a child[1]. This level of interconnectivity has its advantages and disadvantages especially when it comes to the development and safety of children. Clearly, as modernization is speeding up its pace each day, the world is left with one major dilemma, to protect children’s rights in the digital age whilst allowing them to engage in the digital space.
The digital world has recast childhood, making it a very complex and multifaceted system where children’s rights are mingling with very fast-changing technology. Access to online information can facilitate learning, social networking, and personal expression, but it generates risks of data exploitation, abuse online, and violation of children’s privacy. There has become an imperative necessity of online security of children globally. Efforts taken at the newest frameworks level have resulted in efforts from the United Nations to present its latest General Comment No. 25 regarding the right balance that would be a good facilitation and safety for rights. Protection of the innocence and autonomy of young users will require, in part, a strong legislative backbone to complement it but also a cultural shift towards a better understanding of children’s evolving rights in the digital world and the demand for privacy in a wired world as societies increasingly become digitally connected.
Children today learn, play, and socialize differently in this digital environment. However, the risks in this domain are numerous: cyberbullying, online exploitation, or violation of their privacy rights. More than 1,75,000 children join the internet for the first time each day, making international frameworks that would protect their digital rights even more crucial in this age, as UNICEF puts it[2]. This essay undertakes research analysis on the international aspect concerning the protection of rights and interests of children and youngsters in their digital age within the scope of legal tools.
International Legal Framework for Children’s Digital Rights
The protection of children’s digital rights begins with the recognition of their special status in international law. It is still the most ratified human rights treaty, being signed in 1989, even though it predates the dawn of the digital age[3]; however, the principles created before its coming into force have been interpreted to apply to current digital situations. This article 16 of the CRC has particularly acquired a new dimension in this digital context, whereas article 17 relates to children’s right to information and media[4].
The CRC’s Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography has been interpreted as including digital manifestations of child exploitation and obliging states to criminalize various forms of online child sexual exploitation[5]. Importantly, the Committee on the Rights of the Child calls upon governments to take positive steps to prevent the utilization of digital technology as tools for the recruitment or grooming of children for harmful purposes through, inter alia, end-to-end encryption and age verification mechanisms[6]. This broad scope shows that the CRC remains abreast of threats from new digital advances while upholding its essential principles of safeguarding the best interests of children.
The General Data Protection Regulation 2018 is one fantastic leap forward for the cause of children’s rights with regards to digital privacy. Here, under the new data protection of children provision within GDPR comes the requirements for consent as a parent in order for personal data to be processed by anyone and the exercising right over erasure[7], highly applicable in the context of posting childhood content online.
It directly impacts children’s digital rights by providing more than rudimentary data protection, the GDPR also includes specific provisions that pertain to consent and profiling in children. Under Article 8, any information society services that were deemed specifically designed for children younger than 16 years but the Member States can actually set this age at 13, then the data subject’s parental consent was required[8]. Besides, the regulation also explicitly provides that automated decision-making should be prohibited, including the profiling that has legal or similar effects on children when respect to their personal data in particular, unless appropriate measures applied to address the issues relating thereto[9]. Apart from the provisions above, the European Data Protection Board has produced guidelines specific to children’s data protection in educational institutions and social media sites[10]. This approach has generally shaped similar laws globally and is even found in national laws of countries such as Brazil where GDPR-style protections have been incorporated for children’s data.
This development has ushered in the requirement for additional international frameworks and their interpretations on the protection of children’s digital rights. General Comment No. 25 of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, released in 2021, is one landmark in particular that deals directly with children’s rights as it relates to the digital environment[11]. In this comment, the interpretation of traditional rights is spelled out as it applies to their protection in the digital realm, such as privacy, freedom of expression, and protection from exploitation.
The Council of Europe also made considerable strides in this respect by its Strategy for the Rights of the Child (2022-2027), which expressly deals with digital citizenship and safety[12]. In the said plan, digital literacy with the help of critical thinking skills by children is made to interact with online media in safety.
International organizations further the pragmatic approach by giving concrete guidelines in practice standards. Therefore, UNICEF has an Industry Toolkit on online privacy and freedom of expression for children. It gives business operating digitally concrete guideline assistance[13]. The ITU also has a child online protection guideline in regard to children’s safety as they play in digital spaces[14].
Cyberbullying: The International Problem
Cyberbullying has been recognized as one of the biggest threats to children’s welfare in this digital world. According to research, around 60% of the young generation worldwide is being victimized by cyberbullying or some sort of it[15]. International efforts to prevent this kind of activity have also come through the form of several initiatives and legal measures.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has outlined guidelines regarding the prevention of cyberbullying, and the essence of these guidelines is educating and raising awareness[16]. Encouraging the whole school to be on board- the students, teachers, parents, and the rest of the community to form a very safe digital environment has been highly encouraged by many. Most nations have also established specific legislations specifically addressing cyberbullying; it is problematic in enforcing these legislations since the internet has no boundary.
Internet Exploitation and Abuse
This new opening in the digital world makes it even easier to exploit and abuse children. Hence, there is a need for well-coordinated international responses. To this effect, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography was expanded to include all online exploitation[17]. International cooperation among law enforcement has also increased through activities such as the database on international child sexual exploitation by INTERPOL[18].
The recently developed end-to-end encryption technologies have led to a technical challenge for the law enforcement agencies in detecting and preventing child exploitation. However, while encryption technology has proved to be essential for privacy protection, it has indirectly acted as a smokescreen for the perpetrators of child abuse as well[19]. Most importantly, the European Union proposes its legislative framework mandating the scanning of encrypted communications for CSAM, which is controversial but important in efforts to resolve this challenge[20]. Such an unprecedented proposal has shone such critical light on the balance between child protection and digital privacy rights as to create a need for innovative solutions that could adequately protect children without diluting fundamental principles of privacy.
Online exploitation tactics have increasingly grown into higher levels, particularly in artificial intelligence and deepfakes in recent years. AI-generated CSAM is reported to have increased 77% in 2023 as compared to the previous year’s figure according to the Internet Watch Foundation[21]. To this end, various jurisdictions have responded through the creation of specialized cybercrime units and digital forensic capabilities. For instance, the United States’ Project Safe Childhood initiative has founded an all-encompassing framework for investigating and prosecuting technology-facilitated crimes against children[22].
Financial institutions are becoming more pivotal in the war on internet exploitation. FCACSE has developed best practices regarding tracking and blocking suspicious financial transactions that may involve CSAM[23]. This approach has been incredibly efficient in taking down commercialized channels for sharing abusive materials; however, dealing with non-commercial exploitation remains tricky. Virtual Global Taskforce represents collaborative law enforcement bodies across several countries in co-coordinated operations against international child exploitation networks[24].
A measure to prevent online exploitation from occurring is through technical action. Major technology companies offer safety features, such as AI-based content monitoring mechanisms, age verification mechanisms, or even other measures. Its effectiveness varies, and one challenge is the balance with respect to privacy rights to meet protection needs[25].For instance, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection has developed a technology called Project Arachnid, which crawls the web to detect the presence of CSAM and delete it from the internet[26]. Similarly, the PhotoDNA technology, developed by Microsoft, has become the industry standard in detecting and blocking known abuse material, having reported more than 800,000 CSAMs alone in 2023[27].
Data Privacy and Protection
Children’s data privacy is particularly difficult because they do not understand how their data is collected and what that means. The GDPR made a huge step forward by requiring clear, child-friendly privacy notices and strict conditions for processing children’s personal data[28]. “Privacy by design” has become an important concept: service providers must build privacy protections into their products and services from the outset.
Age verification and parental consent systems are two important mechanisms for ensuring the online privacy of children. However, the development and implementation of privacy-sensitive age verification systems are still challenging. The “right to be forgotten” is also highly relevant for children: children have the right to demand the erasure of content uploaded during their childhood[29].
Platform Responsibility and Accountability
Social media platforms and online service providers have a significant role to play in safeguarding the digital rights of children. Many platforms have specifically designed features and policies with regards to young users, including content restrictions, limited data collection, and enhanced privacy settings[30]. However, much debate exists about responsibility here between the platform, parents, and governments on whether these measures are effective.
The Digital Services Act of the European Union imposes new requirements on platforms in terms of their obligations to protect minors including conducting risk assessments and available mitigation measures[31]. Likewise, other jurisdictions are considering similar initiatives, reflecting awareness of the need for platform accountability.
International Cooperation and Enforcement
Given the internet’s transnational reach, so must child’s protection of digital rights be worldwide cooperation. The WEPROTECT Global Alliance is a historic step in coordination between 98 countries, technology companies and civil society organizations aimed at international coordination on policing child exploitation online[32]: jurisdictional complications and national standards variation notwithstanding.
Therefore, protocols for cross-border investigation and mechanisms for the sharing of information have been developed for these purposes. Though the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime provides a framework for the international cooperation of investigations into cyber-crimes against children[33], there is yet more coordination and harmonized standards for the above purposes.
New Challenges and Future Issues
Rapid development in technology creates ongoing challenges to protecting the rights of children in the digital space. The emergence of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and the Internet of Things is among new technologies that create not only new risks but also new opportunities that should be addressed in a regulatory framework adaptively[34]. Certain particular issues about children’s privacy, safety, and psychical well-being are being addressed in the metaverse and immersive technologies.
Digital literacy and education have become extremely important in equipping children with the abilities needed to safely navigate the digital world. International organizations and national governments are developing comprehensive digital literacy programs, recognizing that technical and legal protections must be complemented by education and awareness[35].
The Child’s Right to Privacy and Data Protection in India
India has always acknowledged the rights of children to their privacy in the digital sphere, and that has become even better lately by the otherwise landmark legislation calling itself the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023. This landmark legislation particularly addressed the children’s rights to privacy with the introduction of the concept of “deemed consent” through guardians for processing children’s data, which is basically defined as an individual aged less than 18 years old for the purposes of that legislation[36]. This Act requires data fiduciaries to obtain verifiable parental consent before processing personal data of children, bans tracking, behavioural monitoring or targeted advertisement focused on children[37], and marks an important step toward protecting digital rights for children in one of the largest digitally consuming populations in the world.
The Indian judiciary has also contributed to the development of children’s rights to privacy through landmark judgments. With the recognition of privacy as a constitutional right by the Supreme Court in the judgment of Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India[38], implications exist for children’s digital privacy. More than that, India has issued comprehensive guidelines for protecting children in the digital space by NCPCR, such as an age-appropriate design of content and its moderation[39]. These guidelines take on high importance for a country like India with one of the world’s largest populations of online youths, out of whom almost 40% are under 19 years of age and use the internet[40].
Recent developments in the Indian regulatory landscape include special provisions under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, requiring a provision mandating the intermediate to check the age of the user and the platform with measures to report child sexual abuse material[41]. The draft Digital India Act pending consideration offers more children-friendly provisions online, such as mandatory age check, tighter requirements on data processing, and additional steps for each platform to have greater accountability[42]. Yet, the issue is still far from perfect implementation, especially those referring to age-verification system efficiency and the balance between protection and digital inclusion in diverse socio-economic contexts.
Conclusion
Such efforts of safeguarding the rights of children in the digital field through a comprehensive, multi-stakeholder approach from legal frameworks to technical solutions and education initiatives. Much has been achieved so far through instruments such as the CRC and GDPR, but adaptation is needed to respond to new changes and technologies that will be invented or come into practice.
Strengthening international cooperation, increasing the accountability of platforms, and developing new solutions that equilibrate protection with rights to participation will be salient factors determining children’s future protection of digital rights. With technology continuing to advance, the international community needs to be alert in responding with adaptations of protective measures to ensure children meaningfully benefit from digital opportunities without compromising safety.
This will call for long-term efforts from all parties involved – governments, technology companies, civil society, educators, and parents – working together to build a digital world in which the best interests of children are taken care of and their right to participate in the digital future is preserved.
[1] UNICEF, STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN 2021: ON MY MIND – PROMOTING, PROTECTING AND CARING FOR CHILDREN’S MENTAL HEALTH (2021), https://www.unicef.org/reports/state-worlds-children-2021.
[2] UNICEF, GROWING UP IN A CONNECTED WORLD: THE DIGITAL SAFETY DILEMMA (2019), https://www.unicef.org/reports/growing-connected-world.
[3] Convention on the Rights of the Child, Nov. 20, 1989, 1577 U.N.T.S. 3.
[4] Comm. on the Rts. of the Child, General Comment No. 25 on Children’s Rights in Relation to the Digital Environment, U.N. Doc. CRC/C/GC/25 (Mar. 2, 2021).
[5] Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, adopted May 25, 2000, 2171 U.N.T.S. 227 (entered into force Jan. 18, 2002).
[6] Comm. on the Rights of the Child, Guidelines Regarding the Implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, ¶ 42, U.N. Doc. CRC/C/156 (2019).
[7] Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Protection of Natural Persons with Regard to the Processing of Personal Data and on the Free Movement of Such Data, 2016 O.J. (L 119) 1 (EU).
[8] Commission Regulation 2016/679, art. 8, 2016 O.J. (L 119) 1, 37 (EU).
[9] Commission Regulation 2016/679, art. 22, 2016 O.J. (L 119) 1, 46 (EU).
[10] . EUR. DATA PROT. BD., GUIDELINES 05/2021 ON THE TARGETING OF SOCIAL MEDIA USERS 12-15 (2021).
[11] . Comm. on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 25 on Children’s Rights in Relation to the Digital Environment, U.N. Doc. CRC/C/GC/25 (2021).
[12] COUNCIL OF EUR., STRATEGY FOR THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD (2022-2027): CHILDREN’S RIGHTS IN ACTION: FROM CONTINUOUS IMPLEMENTATION TO JOINT INNOVATION (2022)
[13] UNICEF, INDUSTRY TOOLKIT FOR CHILDREN’S ONLINE PRIVACY AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION (2018).
[14] INT’L TELECOMM. UNION, GUIDELINES FOR CHILD ONLINE PROTECTION (2020).
[15] UNESCO, BEHIND THE NUMBERS: ENDING SCHOOL VIOLENCE AND BULLYING (2023), https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000000000.
[16] UNESCO, GUIDELINES ON PREVENTING AND ADDRESSING CYBERBULLYING (2020), https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000000000.
[17] Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, May 25, 2000, 2171 U.N.T.S. 227.
[18] INTERPOL, CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN ANNUAL REPORT (2022), https://www.interpol.int/reports/2022.
[19] Christian Berg & Kathryn C. Montgomery, The Problem of End-to-End Encryption in Child Protection Investigations, 45 YALE J. ON REG. 112, 115-18 (2023).
[20] Regulation 2024/XXX of the European Parliament and of the Council on Preventing and Combating Child Sexual Abuse, 2023 O.J. (L XXX) 1 (EU).
[21] INTERNET WATCH FOUND., EMERGENCE OF AI-GENERATED CSAM: ANNUAL REPORT 2023 8 (2024), https://www.iwf.org.uk/report/2023/ai-threat.
[22] U.S. DEP’T OF JUST., PROJECT SAFE CHILDHOOD: PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM ONLINE EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE 15 (2023), https://www.justice.gov/psc/report-2023.
[23] INT’L CTR. FOR MISSING & EXPLOITED CHILD., FINANCIAL COALITION AGAINST CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION: MONITORING REPORT 2023 23 (2024), https://www.icmec.org/fcacse-report-2023.
[24] VIRTUAL GLOB. TASKFORCE, ONLINE CHILD EXPLOITATION: GLOBAL THREAT ASSESSMENT 45 (2023), https://www.virtualglobaltaskforce.com/threat-assessment-2023.
[25] INTERNET WATCH FOUND., ANNUAL REPORT ON ONLINE CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE (2023), https://www.iwf.org.uk/report/2023.
[26] CAN. CTR. FOR CHILD PROT., PROJECT ARACHNID: TECHNICAL REPORT ON CSAM DETECTION AND REMOVAL 12 (2023), https://www.protectchildren.ca/arachnid-2023.
[27] MICROSOFT, PHOTODNA: ANNUAL IMPACT REPORT ON ONLINE SAFETY 7 (2024), https://www.microsoft.com/photodna-report-2023.
[28] INFO. COMM’R’S OFF., AGE APPROPRIATE DESIGN CODE (2020), https://ico.org.uk/design-code.
[29] European Data Protection Board, Guidelines on Children’s Data Protection, EDPB Guidelines 2022/01 (2022).
[30] 5RIGHTS FOUND., PATHWAYS: HOW DIGITAL DESIGN PUTS CHILDREN AT RISK (2021), https://5rightsfoundation.com/pathways
[31] Regulation 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council on a Single Market for Digital Services, 2022 O.J. (L 277) 1 (EU).
[32] WEPROTECT GLOB. ALL., GLOBAL THREAT ASSESSMENT (2023), https://www.weprotect.org/threat-assessment-2023.
[33] Convention on Cybercrime, Nov. 23, 2001, E.T.S. No. 185.
[34] WORLD ECON. F., GLOBAL RISKS REPORT: DIGITAL RISKS TO CHILDREN (2023), https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-risks-2023
[35] OECD, CHILDREN IN THE DIGITAL AGE: POLICY RESPONSES TO NEW CHALLENGES (2023), https://www.oecd.org/digital/children.
[36] Digital Personal Data Protection Act, § 9-10, No. 11, Acts of Parliament, 2023 (India).
[37] MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS & INFO. TECH., IMPLEMENTATION GUIDELINES FOR DIGITAL PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION ACT (2023), https://www.meity.gov.in/guidelines/dpdp-act.
[38] Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India, (2017) 10 SCC 1, 43 (India).
[39] NAT’L COMM’N FOR PROT. OF CHILD RTS., GUIDELINES FOR PROTECTION OF CHILDREN IN DIGITAL SPACE (2021), https://www.ncpcr.gov.in/guidelines/digital-protection-2021.pdf.
[40] INTERNET & MOBILE ASS’N OF INDIA & KANTAR, INTERNET ADOPTION IN INDIA REPORT 15 (2023), https://www.iamai.in/reports/2023/internet-adoption.
[41] Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, No. G.S.R. 139(E), Gazette of India, pt. II, sec. 3(i) (Feb. 25, 2021).
[42] MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS & INFO. TECH., DRAFT DIGITAL INDIA ACT (2023), https://www.meity.gov.in/draft-digital-india-act-2023.
