A lack of youth online safety is a global public health crisis that demands systemic platform regulation to protect children from harm, according to a joint declaration by the French government and the World Health Organization (WHO). They demand urgent digital governance to mandate safe platform redesigns, as nations struggle to enforce easily bypassed social media bans.

While online environments can offer educational and social benefits, poorly governed digital spaces pose grave risks to the physical and mental development of youth, French President Emmanuel Macron and WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in the statement released last week. They warn that features including infinite scrolling, autoplay, and push notifications increase the risk of addictive behaviour.

“Our children and young people are not experimental subjects, a captive market, or a commodity,” they asserted.

Calls for ‘pro-child’ digital governance

The leaders warn that unregulated digital marketing exposes vulnerable adolescents to harmful products, echoing public health advocates who accuse the tobacco, alcohol and sugary drink industries of flooding social media to evade advertising regulations.

Furthermore, Macron and Tedros note that, despite its opportunities, generative artificial intelligence acts as a force multiplier for major risks facing youth online, with its long-term impact on children’s emotional development, including their ability to form real life relationships and capacity for empathy, remaining uncertain.

They advocate for a precautionary approach to digital platform design, insisting that such measures are “pro-child” rather than anti-innovation, emphasising that preventing exposure to illegal, extreme, and graphic content is a public health imperative.

Governments and the technology industry must implement transparent data sharing, age-appropriate design, and stronger safety-by-design standards. To enforce these safety standards across the board, the joint mandate calls for independent, longitudinal research and strict corporate accountability.

Legal battles and industry pushback

This push for comprehensive digital governance comes as legal and regulatory pressure against social media platforms is mounting. Recent court rulings in the United States have included a $375 million judgment against Meta in New Mexico and European Union investigations under the Digital Services Act. They have targeted platforms like YouTube and TikTok for designing addictive products.

Technology giants reject allegations that they prioritise engagement over safety, and argue they actively protect younger users. Meta points to its ‘Teen Accounts’ which automatically limit content and contact for under-16s, while TikTok promotes over 50 preset teen safety features.

However, independent researchers argue that existing corporate safeguards fail to address the root problem. They note that technology companies restrict independent data access while continuing to deploy algorithmic features explicitly designed to manipulate the developing brain’s reward systems.

The national ban dilemma

Meanwhile, political efforts to exclude children entirely from social media, like the world’s first national ban for children under 16 in Australia, are facing severe enforcement setbacks.

Early evidence published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) reveals that over 85% of teenagers easily bypass the restrictions by retaining existing unverified accounts, using fake birthdays, or borrowing devices from parents and older siblings. Daily screen time remains unchanged at up to four hours.

While Macron and Tedros view national age restrictions as a positive sign that governments recognise the public health crisis, they argue that true protection requires more than just the absence of harm. Children’s wellbeing depends on safe digital infrastructure that actively supports healthy development rather than disrupting it.

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Image Credits: Ron Lach via Pexels, WHO / Laurent Cipriani .