Public policy and governance
Establish a national commitment, clear institutional responsibilities, enforceable safeguards and independent oversight.
A global public-interest initiativeNational framework · discussion edition
Child-Friendly Internet Nation
A national framework for an Internet that recognises childhood.
A practical, technology-neutral pathway for aligning public policy, communications infrastructure, education, digital services and communities around children’s rights, needs and evolving capabilities.
What is a Child-Friendly Internet Nation?A country that makes child-friendly digital experiences a shared public outcome—not a burden left solely to children, parents or individual products.
COORDINATED NATIONAL ECOSYSTEMOne shared outcome.
Six connected responsibilities.
Six connected responsibilities.
The framework coordinates responsibilities; it does not centralise children’s identities or browsing activity.
The national proposition
Move from isolated protections to a coherent public system.
Children connect through many networks and use many services. A national framework joins the parts that no single family, school, operator or platform can solve alone.
Its purpose is not to create a restricted “children’s Internet.” It is to help the wider Internet respond appropriately to childhood while preserving beneficial access, privacy, participation and a pathway toward autonomy.
01 — Six national pillars
A whole ecosystem, aligned around childhood.
Each pillar has a distinct role. Progress depends on common outcomes, open coordination and clear limits on power and data.
Connectivity and telecoms
Enable privacy-preserving child assurance and continuity across cellular, home, school and public networks.
Digital services
Translate trusted minimum context into safer, age-appropriate and wellbeing-supportive product experiences.
Schools and education
Combine appropriate connectivity with digital literacy, participation, support and routes to trusted help.
Homes and communities
Give families understandable choices while ensuring that protection does not depend on technical expertise or income.
Evidence and accountability
Measure safety, access, privacy, equity, participation and autonomy—and publish what is learned.
03 — National roadmap
Begin with evidence. Scale through trust.
A responsible programme develops through bounded stages, with public learning and child-rights safeguards at every step.
- 01
Convene
Bring children and young people, government, regulators, operators, services, educators, researchers and civil society into one national dialogue.
- 02
Define
Agree outcomes, legal safeguards, permitted uses, responsibilities, redress and a minimum-assurance model.
- 03
Demonstrate
Run a bounded, independently evaluated pilot across a small number of networks and digital services.
- 04
Interoperate
Publish open interfaces, assurance rules, security requirements and conformance expectations.
- 05
Scale responsibly
Expand in stages, monitor unequal impacts and unintended consequences, and adjust through transparent governance.
04 — Shared responsibilities
Leadership is distributed. Accountability is explicit.
A national framework clarifies who must act, where collaboration is required and what no actor should do alone.
ParticipantPrimary responsibilityPublic-interest test
Government and regulatorsSet outcomes, law, standards, procurement and oversight.Are rights, remedies and institutional responsibilities clear?
Telecom operatorsSupport secure assurance and continuity across connections.Can context travel without exposing or tracking the child?
Digital servicesProvide appropriate defaults, features, content and wellbeing settings.Is the response proportionate, explainable and effective?
Schools and communitiesSupport access, literacy, participation and trusted help.Are children empowered as well as protected?
Independent bodiesAudit, evaluate, hear complaints and publish findings.Can people challenge errors, misuse and unfair outcomes?
05 — Measuring public value
Success is more than blocking harm.
A Child-Friendly Internet Nation should measure whether children are safer while retaining the opportunities, rights and agency that make digital participation valuable.
Safety
Are harmful encounters and high-risk features reduced without blanket restriction?
Access
Can children still learn, create, communicate and participate meaningfully?
Privacy
Is only the minimum context disclosed, without a universal child identifier?
Equity
Does the experience work across income, geography, language, disability and connection type?
Wellbeing
Do defaults support healthy attention, agency and development?
Autonomy
Do children gain understandable choice and increasing control as capability grows?
Non-negotiable safeguards
A national framework must not become national surveillance.
The Initiative’s proposition depends on strict purpose limitation, minimum disclosure, short-lived assurance, strong security, independent governance and meaningful redress.
- No universal child identifier exposed across services
- No commercial profiling or unrelated reuse
- No permanent restriction that prevents growing autonomy
- No scaling before independent evaluation and public scrutiny
Start a national conversation
Every country can begin with one shared question.
What would need to change—in policy, networks, schools, services and governance—for every child to receive the right digital support wherever they connect?