C-LAB Calls for National Policy on Children’s Smartphone and Digital Media Use

GG News Bureau
New York, 25th Sept: The Centre for Legal Action and Behaviour Change (C-LAB) has called for a national policy to regulate children’s use of digital media, including restrictions on smartphone use in schools and age-based safeguards for access to online platforms.

The recommendations were outlined in C-LAB’s report, “Prevention By Design: From Voluntary Self-Regulation to a State Duty of Care,” launched at a side event of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The event, titled “Responsible AI & Safe Digital Spaces for Children,” was organised by Athena Infonomics and Just Rights for Children (JRC).

The report argues that children’s participation in digital spaces has become increasingly unavoidable, shifting the focus towards how online environments are designed and who should be responsible for preventing harm.

According to C-LAB, the study examined age-based digital media restrictions in more than 40 countries and school smartphone policies across 110 countries.

The report argues that child protection in the digital environment should move beyond voluntary self-regulation by technology platforms towards what it describes as a binding legal obligation of the state.

Report calls for school smartphone restrictions
One of the report’s key recommendations is the introduction of clearly defined national restrictions on smartphone use in schools.

C-LAB’s analysis of policies in 110 countries found that 52 countries have national legislative bans on smartphone use in schools, while another 31 countries have issued national guidance supporting such restrictions. According to the report, only nine countries leave the issue primarily to individual schools.

The report recommends restricting pupil smartphone use throughout the school day in primary and lower-secondary education.

Calls for greater accountability of digital platforms
Speaking at the report’s launch, JRC founder Bhuwan Ribhu said the expansion of digital platforms had increased the scale of potential harm to children while preventive systems had not developed at the same pace.

He called for mandatory reporting mechanisms and an international legal framework to address online harms that cross national borders.

“The digital world has expanded the scale of harm, while systems for preventing it have not kept pace,” Ribhu said.

He also argued that technology companies should bear responsibility for creating safer digital environments rather than placing the burden on children or their parents.

Ribhu said the report applies principles of child protection and the rule of law to technology and advocates prevention-by-design approaches capable of identifying risks at an early stage.

Report examines age restrictions
The report notes that several countries have moved towards age-based restrictions on children’s access to social media and other online platforms.

It cites Australia’s restriction on social media access for children under 16 as an example of the changing regulatory landscape and says similar measures have been introduced in China, Indonesia and Malaysia, while proposals are being considered elsewhere.

The report also examines contractual obligations and parental consent requirements in selected jurisdictions.

It states that the age threshold below which a minor cannot enter into a binding online contract differs between jurisdictions. It cites 14 years in Florida and 16 years in Ohio, while noting that India has a legal threshold of 18 years for contractual capacity.

Five-pillar framework proposed
C-LAB has proposed a five-pillar framework for strengthening child safety in digital environments.

The first pillar proposes prohibiting social media accounts for children below 15 and allowing supervised access for those aged 15 to 16 only with verified guardian consent. The report says responsibility for compliance should rest with digital platforms rather than children or parents.

The second pillar calls for restrictions on profiling minors for targeted advertising. It also recommends disabling design features such as infinite scrolling and dark patterns that may encourage compulsive use.

The third pillar proposes privacy-protecting age verification. Under the suggested approach, digital identification systems would disclose only a user’s age rather than unnecessary personal information, with strict limits on data collection.

The fourth pillar recommends establishing an independent online safety regulator, introducing mandatory reporting of violations and imposing financial penalties for serious or systemic breaches.

The fifth pillar focuses on children’s participation in policymaking, digital literacy and parental guidance alongside regulatory restrictions.

The report’s central approach is to shift responsibility for children’s digital safety towards the design, regulation and accountability of online platforms, while combining restrictions with privacy safeguards, education and children’s participation in policymaking.