The internet has become a digital playground for the world’s children. It is where they learn, connect, explore, and express themselves. But it is also where predators lurk, misinformation spreads, privacy is fragile, and exploitation evolves faster than the systems built to stop it. The fight to protect children online is no longer just about content filters or parental controls — it is a matter of cybersecurity, policy, and ethical design. And globally, we are playing catch-up.
For years, the conversation around cybersecurity has largely focused on protecting systems, companies, and states. But as more of a child’s life is mediated by digital platforms — from education apps to gaming environments and social networks — the cybersecurity lens must be recalibrated. Children are not miniature adults. Their vulnerabilities are unique. And their protection requires not just technology, but an ecosystem of responsibility involving governments, corporations, educators, and families.
Why Cybersecurity Is Now Central to Child Protection
Cybersecurity and child online protection were once considered parallel concerns. Today, they are deeply intertwined. The exploitation of children increasingly happens through networked environments — whether it’s grooming on messaging apps, bullying in gaming platforms, or the trading of abuse content on encrypted services. A breach in cybersecurity isn’t just a technical failure; for children, it can be life-changing.
Consider the growing use of AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). These are not photographs taken by abusers in physical space, but synthetic images generated by algorithms — often to circumvent legal detection. Law enforcement in the UK, Australia, and the Netherlands has flagged this as an emerging threat, with real-world psychological impacts and serious implications for legal systems that must now determine how to prosecute abuse when no camera was involved.
Or take data breaches. When children’s information is compromised — their names, schools, locations, or even learning preferences — it becomes fodder for profiling, manipulation, and exploitation. Yet many educational platforms in developing countries, including Africa, still lack basic data protection protocols. A resilient cybersecurity posture is no longer optional for platforms that cater to children. It is foundational to their legitimacy and license to operate.
Global Models That Lead by Example
Some countries have taken decisive steps to bridge the gap between cybersecurity and child protection. The United Kingdom’s Age-Appropriate Design Code, also known as the Children’s Code, stands out. Introduced in 2021, it imposes strict obligations on digital services to consider children’s best interests in their design — from default privacy settings to limiting geolocation and profiling. It is a cybersecurity framework in spirit, even if it wears the language of ethics and policy.
Australia has built a robust institutional mechanism in the eSafety Commissioner, an independent statutory office with powers to investigate abuse, enforce takedowns, and guide digital service providers. It combines tech expertise with child rights advocacy, ensuring responses are both swift and sensitive.
In Scandinavia, Finland has integrated digital literacy and safety into national curricula, equipping children with the skills to navigate online risks before they become victims. Here, cybersecurity begins with education, not after-the-fact policing.
The European Union, under the Digital Services Act, is mandating transparency and accountability from platforms whose services can impact children — requiring them to assess and mitigate systemic risks including grooming, harassment, and addictive design patterns.
These examples reflect different contexts, but they share a common thread: a commitment to proactivity, treating child online safety not as a one-time feature, but as an evolving obligation.
Lessons for Ghana and the Global South
Ghana and many of its African peers are still laying the foundations of digital public infrastructure. This presents both a risk and an opportunity. The risk lies in importing platforms and policies without local adaptation. The opportunity is in designing systems from the ground up that are fit for the children they serve.
In recent years, Ghana has made promising moves — from digital curriculum integration to attempts at national cybersecurity awareness. But child-specific protections remain thin. There is no standalone child online protection law. Enforcement capacity is low. And public-private collaboration, especially with tech providers, is limited.
Moreover, the cultural silence around child abuse — offline or online — further complicates detection and intervention. In such settings, technology cannot fix what society denies. But it can surface patterns, empower reporting, and block access points used by offenders.
Building resilience will require more than legislation. It demands digital environments where default privacy is the norm, where identity is verified ethically, and where harmful behavior is flagged through AI not to monetize, but to intervene. Mobile operators, app developers, and ed-tech companies must be brought into the national conversation — not just as vendors, but as stakeholders in protection.
Scenario: When Safety Fails
Imagine a 12-year-old in Accra, using a learning app recommended by her school. The app collects behavioral data to personalize lessons. It also includes a chat feature, where she is contacted by an anonymous adult posing as another student. The app has no content moderation, no identity verification, and no incident reporting feature. Her parents are unaware. Her teacher isn’t trained to spot digital grooming. When things go wrong, no one knows who to call — or who is accountable.
This scenario is not rare. It is unfolding daily across platforms built without a child-first cybersecurity mindset. And when incidents happen, they often go unreported, unaddressed, and untreated — leaving children with digital trauma that few adults even know how to name.
Building for Safety by Design, Not by Reaction
Child online protection must now be part of national cybersecurity strategies, not a policy appendix. It should be embedded in procurement rules, developer guidelines, educational policies, and law enforcement training. Companies building tools for children must prove their platforms can withstand attacks — not just against servers, but against the innocence of their users.
Regulators must adopt risk-based approaches. A game with chat functions requires different scrutiny than a passive learning platform. A data-rich app used by minors demands different compliance than a digital library. And for this to work, capacity must be built locally — in schools, in police departments, in ministries, and in civil society.
Finally, children themselves must be empowered as part of the solution. Digital safety education should teach them not just how to avoid danger, but how to speak up when it happens — how to recognize manipulation, how to report abuse, and how to advocate for their rights in a world increasingly mediated by screens.
Conclusion
Children are not passive users of the internet. They are co-creators of the digital world. Yet they are also the most vulnerable — and the least represented — in the systems that govern their data and experiences. Enhancing child online protection is not just about keeping harm out. It’s about building environments where children can thrive safely.
Cybersecurity must evolve to meet this challenge. It must become child-aware, not just threat-aware. It must defend not just systems, but dignity. And it must be built not only by engineers and policymakers, but by societies that refuse to accept that digital risk is the price of progress.
This is a global battle. But its victories — or its failures — will be deeply local. Ghana, like the rest of the world, must decide: do we protect children by design, or apologize after the fact?
The Writer
Desmond Israel Esq. is a Partner at AGNOS Legal Company | Founder of Information Security Architects Ltd and a Law lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) Law School | Lawyer and technology law expert | Member, IIPGH.
For comments, email: desmond.israel@gmail.com
