On 23 June 2026, policymakers, regulators, industry leaders, academics and child rights experts gathered at the OECD High-Level Roundtable on Regulatory Co-operation for Safer Childhoods Online in Paris. Organized by the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation in partnership with France’s data protection authority (CNIL) under the auspices of the G7, the event focused on one of the defining child protection challenges of our time: how to create digital environments that are safe, age-appropriate and rights-respecting for children.
I was pleased to be amongst the audience.
For child protection organizations, child helplines and frontline services around the world, the urgency of this discussion is not new.
Every day, children contact child helplines seeking support for online harms including cyberbullying, grooming, sexual exploitation, harmful content, privacy violations and technology-facilitated abuse. Behind every statistic is a child whose safety, wellbeing and development have been affected.
A Child Protection Issue That Requires Global Solutions – The Drum We’ve Been Banging for Years…
The challenge is clear: digital services operate across borders, while regulation often remains fragmented. Children, however, experience the internet as one connected environment. Protecting them requires the same level of co-operation.
Online harms do not stop at national borders. A platform used by a child in one country may be headquartered in another, store data in a third and operate services globally.
This is why regulatory co-operation matters.
The OECD roundtable recognized that regulators responsible for privacy, online safety, consumer protection and digital services must work together across jurisdictions to create coherent protections for children. Fragmented approaches leave gaps that can be exploited, while aligned frameworks create clearer expectations for industry and stronger safeguards for children.
For child helplines, this is an important development. Children experiencing online abuse often encounter harms that are transnational in nature. Effective prevention and response require the same level of international co-operation that perpetrators and harmful systems already exploit.
Beyond fragmentation, time is of the essence. One of the most striking messages from the roundtable came in the recognition by regulators that waiting is no longer an option.
As the OECD Deputy Secretary-General observed:
“The train has left the station, and the harm is done.“
This statement reflects a reality that child protection professionals have been highlighting for years. Childhood has already been transformed by digital technologies. Children are spending significant portions of their lives online, accessing opportunities for learning, connection and creativity, but also facing increasing risks. OECD research continues to show rising concerns around cyberbullying, harmful content, online exploitation and other digital harms affecting children across countries.
The question is no longer whether action is needed. The question is how quickly governments, regulators and technology companies can work together to reduce harm and prevent future generations of children from facing the same risks.
Child Safety and Privacy Are Not Opposing Goals
Too often, debates about online child safety become trapped in a false choice between protecting children and protecting privacy.
The roundtable challenged that assumption directly:
“We can achieve the protection of minors whilst also protecting privacy. Anyone against that either has an unsafe business or is not prepared to invest in children’s safety.“
This is a critical message for the child rights community.
Children have the right to protection from harm. They also have the right to privacy. These rights are not mutually exclusive. Effective age assurance, safety-by-design approaches, privacy-enhancing technologies and responsible platform governance can help create online environments that respect both. Discussions at the OECD event highlighted the growing importance of regulatory co-operation around age assurance and privacy-preserving technologies that support child safety without requiring excessive collection of children’s personal data.
The challenge is not whether solutions exist. Increasingly, it is whether there is sufficient political will and industry investment to implement them at scale.
Listening to Children’s Experiences
Policy discussions must always remain grounded in children’s lived realities.
Children value digital spaces. They use them to learn, socialize, participate and express themselves. Yet they are also exposed to a wide range of risks, including harmful content, harmful contact, harmful conduct and commercial exploitation. OECD frameworks increasingly recognize the need to balance protection with empowerment, ensuring that children can safely benefit from digital opportunities while being shielded from preventable harms.
This balance is at the heart of a child-rights-based approach to online safety.
Children should not have to choose between participation and protection. They deserve both.
From Discussion to Delivery
The OECD roundtable represents an important step in advancing international dialogue on online child safety. But children cannot be protected by discussions alone.
What is needed now is implementation:
- Stronger co-operation between online safety, privacy and consumer protection regulators.
- Greater accountability for technology companies.
- Investment in privacy-preserving age assurance and safety technologies.
- Child-centred design standards across digital services.
- Meaningful inclusion of children’s voices and experiences in policy development.
- Sustainable support for child helplines and frontline services responding to online harms.
Children have waited long enough for safer digital environments.
The train has indeed left the station – now, governments, regulators and industry must ensure it is heading in the right direction. Every child deserves to grow up in a digital world that protects their rights, respects their privacy and prioritizes their safety.
Because safer childhoods online are not simply a technology issue.
They are a child protection imperative.
Helen Mason
Executive Director
