Are we serious about children’s rights in the digital world?

Aimy Gabriel reflects on why digital policy must now shift from commitment to accountability.

February 27, 2026.

Five years after United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child General Comment No. 25 clarified that children’s rights apply fully in the digital environment, we face an uncomfortable reality: have we adjusted the system, or merely adjusted our language? Children’s lives are increasingly spent online. As artificial intelligence reshapes platforms at extraordinary speed, are children’s rights keeping pace with the rapid shifts in their own digital world?

I grapple with this question at home. As a mother of a 14-year-old, I watch a generation for whom gaming, messaging and streaming are not distractions but a part of daily life. My son speaks casually about algorithms. But he questions why certain platforms collect his data. He senses when automated decisions are unclear. He is not naïve. He is observant. And he wants to be listened to.

The digital world is not optional

When the UN adopted the General Comment No. 25 in 2021, it affirmed a simple truth: the digital environment is not an add-on to childhood, it is embedded within it. Education, friendship, identity and civic participation increasingly flow through platforms designed far from the children who use them.

Since then, AI systems have become more powerful and less visible. Algorithms curate what children see. Profiling the contents they receive. Automated moderation influences whose voices are amplified or silenced. These systems are rarely explained in terms a child can understand. Parents, caregivers, and teachers are struggling to keep up with the pace of change, while children are left navigating systems that can feel both all-present and impossible to question.

This year, a coalition of organisations including World Vision International marked the fifth anniversary of General Comment No. 25 with a Joint Commitment   to uphold children’s rights online. Statements matter. But they are not outcomes.

Our work listening to children in multiple contexts shows children value the opportunities online. They speak of connection, creativity and learning. But they also describe overwhelming information, exposure to harmful content and anxiety about data collection. A child recently told us,

 “I want to share my ideas, but sometimes I’m afraid people will comment bad things”.

Digital policy without children at the table

We are entering a crucial moment; governments are drafting AI regulations and social media restrictions for children. International discussions on digital safety and governance continue to gather pace. Children are frequently cited as a group requiring protection, but they are far less frequently involved in shaping the rules.

Whilst highly important, the prevailing narrative of safeguarding can obscure a deeper issue: children are rights-holders, not simply vulnerable users. The right to participation, to information and to remedy does not dissolve online. If anything, it becomes more urgent.

Children are not asking to be kept away from the digital world. They are asking for digital spaces that feel safer, fairer, and shaped with their voices at the centre. When adults provide the right support, children understand their rights and engage thoughtfully. The real barrier is not children’s capacity: it is adult mindset and reluctance to share power.

One child puts it simply: 

“We shouldn’t leave the internet. It should change so it works better for children.”

Moving from promise to practice requires three shifts

Moving from promise to practice means listening to children as a permanent part of digital policy, platform design, and AI governance. The goal is not to shut children out of digital life, but to build a digital world that respects children as rights-holders within it.

We must continue to hold technology companies to account, so that AI systems affecting children are transparent and open to challenge. Children have rights to information, participation, and remedy and these rights must be real and lived.

Ultimately, this requires investment in safe, rights-based digital participation: child-friendly platforms, supportive not controlling adults, and feedback loops that show children how their input leads to real change.

As someone who works on child participation in digital spaces, I’m convinced the most effective approaches treat children as rights- holders, not problems to be managed.  We must respond to children’s voices and rights and build the safe digital environment they need now.

Aimy Gabriel is Global Senior Advisor Children and Digital, in World Vision International Advocacy & External Engagement Team. She has two decades of experience in child protection, participation, and advocacy, across development and humanitarian programmes at national, regional and global levels. She works to ensure children’s voices meaningfully shape digital policy and platforms, with a focus on safety, inclusion and child rights. She is also a parent, navigating these issues at home.