Children's best interests in a digital world

The digital world is transforming childhood, offering unprecedented opportunities such as in learning and play, while also posing new risks to children’s safety and inclusion. Yet, these digital spaces are rarely designed with children’s best interests in mind. As society undergoes a profound digital transformation, effectively balancing these opportunities and risks is crucial to ensuring children’s rights are upheld. 

The Convention on the Rights of the Child provides an overarching principle to guide all actions concerning children: the best interests of the child. While this principle is increasingly referenced in policies and regulations regarding the digital environment and by tech companies, there is little guidance on its practical implementation. Children's voices are largely absent from much needed discussions on this. 

Policymakers, regulators and tech companies need to better understand how to make the best interests of the child a primary consideration in their work. To bridge this gap UNICEF is first turning to children: through consultations and creative workshops in six countries, children will be consulted on their perspectives on what the principle means to them, how their rights and interests should be balanced, and how they envision their digital futures.

Alongside this, UNICEF is engaging with experts and practitioners through online consultations to gather diverse insights. Collectively, the findings will inform government policymakers, regulators, and tech companies developing digital platforms and services used by children, helping to ensure children’s needs and voices shape their digital futures.