The launch of the Pact to Protect Children Online marks a great stride toward improving the safety and welfare of children on the internet in the UAE. This innovative agreement signed by several authorities, companies, and social media platforms seeks to create an environment that is safer for children in the country.
The Pact seems to help children learn safe web browsing, shielding them from harmful content keep them away from the evils of cyberbullying. Signing the Agreement took place under the World Government Summit (WGS) 2025 in Dubai and shall allow public and private bodies to cooperate by any means necessary to guarantee the long-run programming welfare of children.
Fatima Al Melhi, Director of Special Projects at the Early Childhood Authority, underlined the importance of such initiatives related to digital literacy. “We will focus on long-term collaboration to drive research and development initiatives, fostering innovation and continuous improvements in digital wellbeing strategies,” she went on.
As highlighted, a study in 2019 indicated that approximately 33% of the children in the UAE had suffered some kind of online bullying, thus paving the way for this immediate urgent pact. It is supposed to cover forbidding exposure to harmful content, prevent children from enduring any sort of cyberbullying, and consider better security for data and privacy. This pact, besides its provision for physical and psychological protection for children, has mechanisms that can help track and supervise content targeted at their view.
There will also be mechanisms in place for this pact to physically and psychologically protect children and improve the supervision of content directed toward them.
Lt-Gen Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, cites that there is a joint responsibility across sectors to protect children online. “As more people rely on technology, it is necessary to establish clear frameworks and effective implementation mechanisms to protect children from harmful content and increasing digital challenges,” he indicated.
The project also addresses child protection but emphasizes the need for digital literacy programs for children and parents, granting them the power and knowledge to safeguard themselves in cyberspace. Research and knowledge dissemination in new technologies would also consider programs to mitigate risks. Partnerships with some major social media platforms include Snapchat, Meta, Google, and TikTok. Of course, the major partners are the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority and Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications.
The pact improves the quality of digital life for kids while creating a more protective cocoon for them in a hyper-connected world by promoting digital literacy and providing analysis tools for user age verification and incident reporting.
