Strengthening parental digital literacy for online child safety

In the digitally connected world, keeping children away from digital technology is not only unrealistic, it can disadvantage them by cutting off their access to a vast and rapidly evolving universe of knowledge. Ensuring an age-appropriate digital environment of cyber safety and mobilising communities to spread digital literacy and awareness of the internet is essential to help children navigate technology safely and productively. Regulatory measures alone cannot protect children from associated risks of access to digital technology, such as exposure to age-inappropriate content, cyberbullying, excessive screen time, etc., and such measures must be combined with strengthening of awareness of cyber safety among parents. The legal and regulatory framework to ensure that the online environment is safe and secure for citizens, including children, in India is shaped by the Information Technology Act, 2000; the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (as amended); and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. These laws require intermediaries, which create and provide the space for users to upload, access, or share information and content online, to take responsibility and be accountable, improve the process for handling complaints, and protect personal data from being misused to make the digital world safer. Data from the National Crime Records Bureau shows an alarming rise in cybercrime targeting children, with most offences involving sexually explicit content depicting child sexual abuse material, revealing a critical enforcement gap and a persistent deficit in public awareness of online safety. The laws do not ensure automatic enforcement of regulatory measures. Besides using digital surveillance tools to fight cybercrimes, it’s crucial for parents to report any online offences against their children so that law enforcement can act quickly, start investigations on time, and prevent further harm. Parents will only take this role if they know the laws and how to make digital space safe. The government insists, based on strong legal provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000, read with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, that these rules mandate intermediaries to exercise due diligence and prohibit hosting or transmission of unlawful content, including content that is obscene, pornographic, invasive of privacy, harmful to children, promotes hate or violence, impersonates individuals, or threatens public order. Furthermore, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, further provides safeguards for children by requiring verifiable consent of parents or lawful guardians prior to processing of their personal data and prohibits practices such as tracking, behavioural monitoring and targeted advertising directed at children. The DPDP Rules prescribe operational mechanisms for obtaining verifiable parental consent, including through identity and age verification measures and the use of virtual tokens. These measures can be effective only when parents are aware of the nuances of parental consent—what data is being collected and how the digital platforms are accessing their children’s information. For most parents, who have not received any form of digital literacy, these laws remain unfamiliar, and even when explained, the provision of cyber safety and mobilising communities to spread digital literacy and awareness remains incomprehensible. Except for the digitally informed, many offences go unreported. When digital access is growing, the number of reported offences is steeply rising. In addition to school-based digital literacy and awareness of cyber safety, mobilising communities to educate parents about digital literacy, cybercrimes, and cyber safety can help bridge the ongoing reporting and enforcement gaps. This calls for wider dissemination of resources to promote online safety, such as “Being Safe Online” guidelines for awareness among children, parents, and educators developed by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights with clear and easy-to-understand instructions. The issue of restricting social media access for children under 16 years has stirred public discourse in India after some countries imposed such restrictions. The issue is complex, as different digital methods of determining the age of users are not free from technical errors, and such errors risk discriminating users due to erroneous age estimation. Much social media content includes learning resources, and a blanket restriction on their access will only deprive them of such useful resources. Apart from harm from exposure to age-inappropriate content, prolonged exposure to digital screens poses significant health hazards for all users, especially children. Therefore, reducing screen time can not only protect children from health hazards, but it also significantly cuts down their exposure to online risks by substantially reducing their chances of encountering cybercriminals. If reduced screen time can be made safe and fully secure, then children can continue to enjoy the advantages of digital technology without any apprehensions of online threats. Raising universal awareness among parents by imparting digital literacy through community institutions and educational institutions is a pragmatic and effective approach to make the digital space safe and secure for children. Ensuring that all parents are digitally literate is therefore essential to building a truly inclusive, secure digital ecosystem for all children, regardless of their social and economic backgrounds.