Amnesty International has raised concerns that children and young people are being sidelined from policymaking on online safety, warning that current global measures amount to a false promise of protection, according to a press release. The article, authored by Amnesty’s Children’s Digital Rights Researcher Lisa Dittmer alongside Digital Rights Champions Paloma Candia and Ahmed Dhman, was first published in TechPolicy.Press. It highlights how children’s voices are absent from high-level debates about their own safety. French President Emmanuel Macron praised France’s teen social media ban as “leading the way in Europe in protecting our children and our teenagers,” though France’s top court later blocked the law over privacy and freedom of expression concerns. United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Guterres has also called for an artificial intelligence (AI) Child Safety Pledge.
At the UN AI Dialogue in July, a new state coalition for the protection of children launched its work, yet not a single child spoke aside from a brief prerecorded video. Kenya, one of the coalition’s state parties, is debating a new AI bill that lacks child-specific protections or a consultation mechanism. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes children’s right to be heard, but their participation remains tokenistic. Amnesty argues that Big Tech state capture, political shortsightedness, and rising digital authoritarian practices are eroding children’s rights. Child and youth campaigners have long called for solutions addressing manipulative design and privacy violations.
Surveillance and age assurance concerns
Amnesty notes that children’s personal data is constantly collected and shared, from pregnancy tracking to school-based biometric attendance and AI-enabled behavior management. Governments debating teen social media restrictions are simultaneously embracing AI chatbots in schools despite concerns over privacy and lack of educational evidence. Age assurance tools required to enforce teen bans risk creating additional data trails and cybersecurity incidents. France sidestepped enforcement of its teen ban law to avoid a clash with European regulation, while Digital Identity Wallets will soon pervade online experiences across the EU. Governments including Turkey, Vietnam, and the United Arab Emirates are proposing similar measures.
Youth activism and digital repression
The report highlights Gen Z protests across Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Kenya, Madagascar, and Peru, showing the power of digitally connected youth. When students protested in Delhi to demand the education minister’s resignation, the Indian government shut down mobile data services and moved against a Bluetooth-based app used during the shutdown. In Kenya, Amnesty documented how authorities weaponized online harassment and surveillance to suppress youth-led protests in 2024 and 2025. Evidence from Australia shows that teen social media bans fail, as children continue accessing harmful platforms. Amnesty warns that politics attempting to shut out youth instead of working with them will fail.
Amnesty calls on governments to move beyond tokenistic engagements and create meaningful opportunities for children to shape digital policy. Regulators should invest in digital literacy, safeguard privacy, ban manipulative design, and set limits on state surveillance powers. Tech companies must co-design products with children if they are to be used by children. “Nobody should have to choose between their safety and their voice,” wrote Kenyan high school student Mark Igathe in his winning entry to Amnesty Kenya’s annual digital rights essay competition. Amnesty urges policymakers to make more space for those voices and to listen.