{"id":106785,"date":"2026-08-12T15:06:54","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T11:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/?p=106785"},"modified":"2026-08-12T15:06:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T11:06:55","slug":"un-warns-of-growing-digital-risks-for-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/un-warns-of-growing-digital-risks-for-youth\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Warns of Growing Digital Risks for Youth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The United Nations<\/a> has raised the alarm over digital risks facing children and young people worldwide, warning that disinformation, harassment, algorithmic bias, and the misuse of artificial intelligence<\/a> are on the rise. The warning comes at a time when more than 80% of youth aged 15 to 24 use the internet globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UN made this statement on Monday. It was part of a new briefing note published ahead of International Youth Day. According to the note, internet use among youth in low-income countries is nearly double that of the wider population in those nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, the UN has urged governments, tech companies, advertisers, media outlets, and researchers to prioritise the protection of young people online. It also called for their active involvement in shaping solutions to information integrity challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, the brief pointed out that these digital risks are closely tied to business models built around monetising user attention and personal data. Design features and algorithms meant to maximise engagement add to the problem. Consequently, children and youth remain especially vulnerable to such practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the rapid pace of artificial intelligence development continues to outstrip efforts to manage its dangers. This includes AI-generated content, new forms of exploitation, and targeted advertising strategies that push children toward increased spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking on the issue, UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres called for stronger safety measures to shield children from AI. He stressed that they must not be exposed to unregulated and unaccountable technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the UN emphasised that young people should not be seen only as vulnerable targets. Instead, they are increasingly taking on roles as content creators, advocates, organisers, and active participants in public discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charlotte Scaddan, UN Senior Adviser on Information Integrity, echoed this view. She said children and young people are among those most affected by today’s information crisis, yet also among those most capable of helping resolve it. Protecting them and including them, she added, are not competing goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, the UN called for the swift integration of children’s and youth’s rights into AI governance frameworks. It also urged stronger legislation and corporate accountability across the tech, advertising, media, and research sectors. These steps, the UN said, are essential to addressing digital risks and building a safer digital ecosystem for young people everywhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United Nations has raised the alarm over digital risks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":106786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,9621],"tags":[2131],"contributor":[9732],"class_list":["post-106785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence","category-emerging-technologies","tag-united-nations","contributor-news-desk"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Over-80.jpg.jpeg","author_info":{"display_name":"Rabab","author_link":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/author\/rabab\/"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106785"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106787,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106785\/revisions\/106787"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106785"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techxmedia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=106785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}