{"id":6953,"date":"2026-05-29T14:35:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T14:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/un-urges-urgent-action-to-protect-children-online\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T14:35:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T14:35:39","slug":"un-urges-urgent-action-to-protect-children-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/un-urges-urgent-action-to-protect-children-online\/","title":{"rendered":"UN urges \u2018urgent\u2019 action to protect children online"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Call to governments and tech companies comes amid a global push for greater accountability and oversight of social media platforms.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for urgent action to protect children online, demanding it be made a \u201cpriority\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement released on Friday, Volker Turk called for stronger action by governments and tech companies to make online platforms safer.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/29\/us-iran-60-day-proposal-what-we-know\">US-Iran 60-day proposal: What we know<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/newsfeed\/2026\/5\/29\/who-chief-visits-drc-amidst-ebola-crisis\">WHO chief visits DRC amidst Ebola crisis<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/29\/dangerous-colonial-occupation-israels-digital-west-bank-land-register\">\u2018Dangerous colonial occupation\u2019: Israel\u2019s digital West Bank land register<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/29\/australian-court-sets-august-date-for-mushroom-murderer-appeal-hearing\">Australian court sets August date for \u2018mushroom murderer\u2019 appeal hearing<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>\u201cEnhancing protection of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/23\/more-than-500-children-killed-in-measles-outbreak-in-bangladesh\">children<\/a> online is an urgent priority,\u201d he insisted.<\/p>\n<p>The call comes amid a global push for greater accountability and oversight of social media platforms, with countries testing age-based bans and stricter regulations, and pressure growing on technology companies.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside the statement, the UN human rights office released a set of guidelines aimed at improving children\u2019s safety online and protecting their rights through stronger regulation.<\/p>\n<p>The measures include safeguards around age verification processes, mandatory child rights impact assessments, and involving children in shaping regulatory responses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need much wider action \u2013 by governments and companies \u2013 to ensure that the platforms themselves are made safer by design, that data is protected, that those responsible for harm can be held to account, and that children\u2019s rights and needs are fully respected throughout,\u201d Turk said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhatever 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,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Turk added that regulations focused only on the age of users risk leaving unchanged the design choices and algorithmic practices that make platforms unsafe in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>Restrictions on children\u2019s access to social media have proliferated globally following Australia\u2019s adoption of legislation restricting access for children under 16 in December 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Indonesia and Malaysia have also introduced age-based restrictions, while across Europe, many countries are also considering limiting children\u2019s access to social media.<\/p>\n<p>Austria said in late March that it plans to ban social media for children under the age of 14, with draft legislation expected to be finalised by June. Denmark and France are also set to ban social media platforms for children under 15.<\/p>\n<p>Spain\u2019s prime minister announced in early February that the country plans to ban social media for children under 16, while the United Kingdom is weighing similar restrictions.<\/p>\n<p>However, some child safety experts say bans alone do not go far enough, calling instead for tighter regulation requiring technology companies to better moderate harmful content and platform design.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Sherwood, chief executive of Britain\u2019s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, has previously called on governments to \u201censure harmful content is blocked at the source\u201d and for \u201cplatforms no longer using design tricks that keep teens hooked\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Call to governments and tech companies comes amid a global push for greater accountability and oversight of social media platforms. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for urgent action to protect children online, demanding it be made a \u201cpriority\u201d. In a statement released on Friday, Volker Turk called for stronger action &#8230; <a title=\"UN urges \u2018urgent\u2019 action to protect children online\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/un-urges-urgent-action-to-protect-children-online\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about UN urges \u2018urgent\u2019 action to protect children online\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}