By Oluwatomi A. Ajayi, Esq.
Introduction
Many children are consumed with their electronic devices daily accessing appropriate and inappropriate content on the internet. As parents, we know children are naturally curious with most things and so we should expect that they will carry this same attitude when they engage online to search for information, communicate instantly with their friends/family or to play games. The internet arguably being the leading source of information has enabled countries to adopt digital learning programmes as part of their educational policies since the Covid-19 pandemic. Recent studies conducted on under-aged users by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found out that on average, 95% of 15-years-olds browse the internet for fun, while about 96% of teenagers under 16 were said to be operating social media accounts in Australia until it was banned recently. Similarly, MTN Nigeria’s report published in year 2024 revealed that 70% of Nigerian children aged 8 to 17 have online presence, exposing them to both opportunities and risks. <https://cioafrica.co/mtn-nigeria-launches-child-online-safety-initiative>. The statistics here provokes these two questions which are: How do we ensure children are safe online bearing in mind that predators are also exploiting the same technology to cause harm to these children? Can the Law guarantee that technology-driven violence perpetrated against children can be effectively tackled? Because we know that oftentimes when children are bullied or harassed offline, someone can quickly intervene on their behalf. Unfortunately, this is not so when children are browsing on their own.
What is Child Online Safety?
Child online safety is defined as the protection of children from harm or exploitative content, interactions or experiences in the digital space. It involves ensuring that children use the internet safely and responsibly, without exposure to online bullying, grooming, sexual exploitation or other digital risks. It further involves teaching children about safe and responsible use of their electronic devices and ensuring that they understand the potential risks of being on the internet. <https://www.premiumtimesng,com/news/top-news/631181-9-in-10-nigerian-children-face-online-risks-report.html>.
What Challenges Do Children Encounter Online?
Technology-driven risks fall into the categories of cyberbullying, cyberstalking, sexual grooming, sale of children’s sensitive information on the dark web, posting or sharing of harmful content like child pornography, misinformation and misleading AI-generated information, child sexual abuse and exploitation. Evidently, these criminals preying on children are taking advantage of the global reach and anonymity of the internet to perpetrate these crimes. Sadly, many children do not know the importance of digital identity nor understand the implications of privacy exposure as well as the irresponsible use of social media. We may also have to examine the excessive or inappropriate act of share-renting by parents which could also put children in danger. The internet has even enabled the sad emergence of ‘crimefluencers’- these are young children who commit crimes and proudly display the crimes online for others to see. Aside this, findings from the Nigerian Communications Commission’s 2025 report has also revealed that 90% of Nigerian children face at least one form of cyber risk, with many reporting cases of sexual exploitation and harassment while using the internet.
Combating Child Cyber Risk/Abuse
Countries are expected to develop effective safeguards to prevent online harm. Such safeguards should focus on making tougher legislations, creating channels for reporting; supporting law enforcement with technology, bridging the gaps in child protection by moving beyond theory and engaging directly with on-the-ground challenges; developing capacity-building through books and seminars in cyberlaw training for the Police, Lawyers and Judges; localising the discourse on digital governance by setting up committees to investigate and proffer solutions; introducing digital technology as a curriculum content in primary/secondary schools; conducting survey research by studying the risk pattern, brainstorming of ideas with local NGOs, professionals from multiple agencies and publishing the data for awareness purpose all aimed at laying a groundwork for significant lawmaking or policy making decisions. These strategies are all central to children’s rights enforcement in this digital age which plays a crucial role in deploying evidence-based solutions that aligns with global expectation. According to UNODC, law enforcement investigations are among the most prominent means to combat online child abuse. It is worth noting that many lawmakers across the world are working to ensure that laws are reformed or enacted in favour of child online safety.
Child Online Safety in Different Jurisdictions
It has to be clearly stated that effective online protection of children without the involvement of State organs will not achieve significant results. No wonder, there is a growing list of countries contemplating safety measures for children on social media. Australia has gone ahead with its age-restricted social media policy which aims to protect children from potentially harmful content. Similarly, the UK Online Safety Act has put safety protections in place for young internet users, stating that online and social media companies are to be penalised if they fail to take appropriate steps to protect children from harmful content. Other interventions include The Terminology Guidelines for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (the Luxembourg Guidelines); The United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) AI for Safer Children Initiative; The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Comment 25; UNICEF and OECD’s Online Safety and Digital Skills for Young People; The African Union’s Child Online Safety and Empowerment Policy. In Nigeria, the Child Rights Act, the Cybercrime Act, the Nigeria Data Protection Act, the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act and other allied laws essentially provides safeguards for children in the digital space.
Safety Tips
Applying the following helpful tips here can help tackle online dangers faced by children: Be selective about what you share or post online. If your social media accounts are open to everyone, a predator may be able to figure out a lot of information about you. Be wary of anyone you encounter for the first time online, so you may need to block or ignore messages from strangers because anyone can pretend to be anything online, notwithstanding the videos and photos that they post since images can be altered or stolen. Be suspicious if you meet someone on a game or any app and is asking you to start talking on a different platform. Be in the know that any content you create online – whether it is a text message, photo, or video – can be made public, and nothing actually “disappears” online. Once you send something, you don’t have any control over where it goes next. Be willing to ask for help if you have been victimised online. If you are getting messages or requests online that seem like an abuse, block the sender, report the behavior to the site administrator, or go to an adult who will in turn report the criminal abuse to the relevant agencies. <https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/nigerian-brothers-sentenced-sextortion-scheme-resulted-death-teen>. It is also important to teach children the basics of cybersecurity which is simply about staying safe and secure in a digital world.<https://thegavel.com.ng/observing-safer-internet-and-data-privacy-awareness-days/>.
Conclusion
When children are online, they are more vulnerable. They therefore deserve our prompt and timely attention. This requires a collective intervention as we continually strive to remove who or what can entrench criminality online, educating children about online dangers and ensuring that perpetrators are brought to justice. This can go a long way to protect children online or the would-be victims.
For more information on Internet Governance, Cybercrime Law, Cybersecurity and Investigation, kindly get the textbook titled: ‘Internet Technologies and Cybersecurity Law in Nigeria’ authored by Oluwatomi A. Ajayi, Esq. She can be reached via <tomiajayi4@gmail.com>.
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