Speaking at the Paris Peace Forum 2022 in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron has announced the creation of the Children Online Protection Laboratory, which aims to improve the online safety of children across the world.
Child safety online is a huge issue in Europe, encompassing key aspects of online child safety such as privacy protection, combating cyberbullying, the proliferation of child sexual abuse material and child exploitation, age verification on adult websites and social networks, mental well-being, and digital literacy, to name a few.
The new multi-stakeholder incentive is the result of consultation with digital platforms, charities, advocacy groups, and other members of civil society, who will also be playing key roles in its implementation. The initial objectives outlined by the new Protection Lab will be to identify robust protocols and solutions that will enable children to use digital tools safely and benefit from their potential without being exposed to abuse or harmful content.
We welcome this latest commitment as an important step forward in addressing the pressing issues facing young internet users today. As the internet continues to become more prevalent in our lives, it is essential that we recognize the risks and challenges that our children are facing and continue to work toward creating a safer, inclusive, and more rewarding online environment for them.
Dan Raisbeck, Co-founder, The Cybersmile Foundation
Meta's Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp, alongside other major platforms such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok, and French platform Dailymotion, will all be involved in the new lab's work and will also be joined by the UN, UNICEF, and other civil society organizations.
Estonia, Argentina, and New Zealand have all committed to helping set up the new Protection Laboratory alongside the United Nations and other key partners. Speaking at an event on the protection of children in cyberspace, which was held in parallel with the Paris Peace Forum, Estonian president Alar Karis commented on the importance of the initiative, stating:
We must do everything within our power to protect the vulnerable in cyberspace. Through education and training, we must raise the level of awareness of the threats posed by the Internet. Estonia is working closely with other countries in implementing programs needed for the protection of children on the Internet, and we look forward to the ideas the lab will come up with in that regard.
Alar Karis, President of Estonia
The announcement of this incentive follows a number of online safety changes brought in by the French government over the last few years, including rules intended to prevent minors accessing adult websites as well as age verification and privacy rules for underage users.