Landmark verdicts signals a turning point for children’s rights in digital space

Press Statement - London, 2 April 2026. World Vision welcomes recent court decisions holding Meta and YouTube accountable for harms linked to their platforms as an important step toward greater accountability for children’s rights online and calls for urgent action to address systemic risks in digital platforms.

In the latest landmark case, a jury found that Meta misled its users on child safety and was fined $375million in compensatory damages. This verdict comes alongside a separate decision on Meta and YouTube that proved they harmed a young user through addictive platform design causing real mental health harm.  Along with other users who try to use social media responsibly, World Vision welcomes every move that makes a valuable communication tool safer for all.

For World Vision, these verdicts reinforce a fundamental principle that children’s rights to safety, privacy and well-being must be built into digital platforms from the outset, not when harm occurs.  These cases signal a growing legal recognition that platform providers must be held accountable when their platforms expose children to harm. 

This moment also reflects the growing impact of young people speaking up about their lived digital experiences. The testimony of a young person helped a jury understand what online harm looks like from a child’s perspective, in real life.  Children and young people are rights-holders, their voices are critical to digital safety, and listening to them, drives accountability and real change.

World Vision calls for comprehensive, child-rights-based approaches that address both the design and governance of digital platforms. Creating safer digital spaces requires collective action. This includes stronger regulation and enforcement of safety-by-design standards, transparent and accountable AI systems, investment in digital literacy and child protection services, and meaningful engagement with children themselves.

World Vision believes that children’s rights must be upheld both online and offline, in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and General Comment No. 25, which provides guidance on how children’s rights should be respected, protected, and fulfilled in the digital environment. All measures affecting children in the digital environment must be grounded in a child rights-based approach, ensuring that protection from harm is balanced with children’s rights to access information, participation, privacy, and development in line with their evolving capacities.

Governments must establish and enforce clear standards for platform accountability, including safety-by-design and age-appropriate design requirements, while ensuring that AI-driven systems are transparent and rights-respecting. At the same time, increased investment is needed to strengthen digital literacy and child protection systems, alongside mechanisms that enable meaningful and safe child participation in shaping digital policies and services.

ENDS-

For media interviews contact: 

Karla Harvey, Sr Advisor of Impact Comms & External Engagement.

 Email: karla.harvey@wvi.org