By Martina Amelia
With more than eight in 10 young people aged 15 to 24years online worldwide, there is need for urgent, coordinated action from governments, tech companies, advertisers and researchers to protect children and young people from a growing wave of risks.
These include disinformation, harassment, algorithmic bias and the misuse of artificial intelligence (AI).
This is according to a UN brief released ahead of the International Youth Day, which found that in low-income countries, young people are online at nearly twice the rate of the general population, a level of connectivity the organization says leaves the “deeply connected generation” disproportionately exposed to threats to information integrity.
According to the brief, the harms young people encounter online are not incidental but stem directly from business models built to monetise attention and personal data. Design choices intended to maximise engagement and spending from algorithms and “dark patterns” to loot boxes are named as key drivers of compulsive use among children whose “habits, identities and relationships are still forming.”
The report further cautions that AI is spreading faster than regulators and institutions can respond, deepening risks that range from AI-generated content to AI-facilitated exploitation. Hidden advertising tactics aimed at increasing children’s online spending were also flagged as a growing concern.
“Taken together, these practices normalise pervasive commercial surveillance and manipulative design during the years when children and young people are most impressionable,” the brief states.
The brief follows a call last month from UN Secretary-General António Guterres for an AI Child Safety Pledge, in which he compared untested AI systems to unproven medicine and pressed for stronger regulation.
“No child should be a guinea pig for unregulated AI,” Guterres said at the first Global Dialogue on AI Governance, adding that responsibility cannot be deflected by blaming an algorithm when harm occurs.
A United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) analysis estimates that at least 20 million children across 10 countries have already used AI tools, adopting the technology far faster than parents or caregivers even as evidence on its effects on children’s learning and wellbeing remains limited.
The UN stresses that children and young people should not be viewed solely as vulnerable parties, highlighting their role as creators, advocates and organisers, including through youth-led movements and young journalists shaping public debate.
At the same time, it acknowledges that the same platforms enabling this activism often expose organisers particularly young women, minorities and activists to harassment and surveillance.
“Children and young people are among those most affected by today’s information crisis and among those most capable of helping to solve it,” said Charlotte Scaddan, UN Senior Adviser on Information Integrity. “Protecting them and including them are not competing goals. We have to do both.”
While policymakers have increasingly focused on issues such as addictive design, behavioural advertising and privacy, the brief cautions that the opportunity to embed children’s rights into AI governance frameworks is narrowing as the technology becomes more deeply embedded in daily life.
The document outlines proposed steps for different stakeholders: governments are urged to strengthen legislation, technology firms to build in child-safety protections, advertisers to prioritise children’s rights, media organisations to better serve young audiences, and researchers to close information gaps, particularly across the Global South.
The UN said it will continue to feed into global AI governance efforts through the Global Dialogue on AI Governance and the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, a newly established scientific body tasked with assessing the risks and opportunities the technology presents.
As digital technologies and information environments continue to evolve, the current moment presents an urgent opportunity to move from principles to practical action.
