Test for G7 leaders will be holding tech firms accountable
G7 leaders are calling on tech companies to embed stronger child safety protections across digital products and AI systems.
G7 leaders have issued a joint call for a safer digital environment for children, urging tech companies to embed stronger protections across digital products and services, including AI systems.
In a statement also supported by Brazil, Egypt, India, Kenya, and South Korea, leaders called for tech companies to be held accountable for effectively assessing and mitigating risks to children upstream and deliver a high level of privacy and safety for children.
Building on the international best practices that have emerged across all continents for the implementation of children’s rights in the digital world, the declaration reaffirms that digital products and services must be designed with children’s safety, privacy and wellbeing in mind from the outset. This means no longer shifting responsibility onto children and parents to navigate risks deliberately embedded by tech companies to maximise profit at children’s expense.
Yet, the declaration’s insistence on measures such as digital literacy, parental controls, and downstream content removal shows the fingerprints of an industry that has long preferred to avoid accountability rather than redesign the products causing harm.
Leanda Barrington-Leach, Executive Director of 5Rights Foundation said,
“We welcome the joint call by G7 leaders for tech – including AI – to be safe and age-appropriate by design and default. The test of this commitment will be in its implementation and enforcement, and it is therefore concerning that tech CEOs were today invited to a cosy lunch to discuss both economic growth and child safety when their current business model depends on exploiting children.
“Governments must finally end this unholy alliance, step up, and hold tech companies accountable. It is their obligation to put children before profits and demand that all digital products and services likely to be used by or to impact kids are certified safe before they reach the market.”
The G7 statement reflects the international consensus that children hold the same rights online as offline. The real challenge now is ensuring governments move beyond commitments and translate international best practices into effective regulation and enforcement.
