Across Africa, the mobile industry has driven one of the most profound shifts in recent history: hundreds of millions of people are coming online for the first time by using a mobile phone.
Children are at the centre of this story. Africa is the world’s youngest region, with close to half of its population under 18; as access expands, many first-time users will be children and young people. The opportunity is immense, and so is our responsibility.
Connectivity can unlock learning, skills and social participation. But for too many children, it can also open the door to bullying, grooming, exploitation and harmful content. Inclusion without protection risks widening not only the digital divide but also the safety gap.
The GSMA’s latest analysis underscores the need to pursue inclusion and protection together. Universal, affordable access remains vital for Africa’s growth – yet policy and industry must ensure child online protection keeps pace with network rollouts, device adoption and data-driven services. This means coupling affordability and digital literacy with age-appropriate safeguards designed infrom the start.
To help align action, UNICEF and GSMA Africa are convening a Child Online Protection (COP) Taskforce effort, due to be launched at this year’s MWC Kigali, with partners across governments, industry and civil society, building on recommendations from GSMA’s June 2025 whitepaper and a Ministerial roundtable at MWC25 Barcelona.
The goal is simple: move from fragmented initiatives to shared standards, clear roles and measurable commitments.
Three priorities to make progress now
Building on the GSMA’s recommendations, three priorities stand out:
1. Embed safety by design across networks, devices and platforms.
Make age-appropriate design automatic: content controls that are on by default for child accounts; simple reporting and redress; data-minimising profiles; and clear routes to help. Safety features should be built in, not bolted on. Aligning with the African Union’s Child Online Safety & Empowerment Policy will speed consistency and scale.
2. Harmonise policy and enforcement across borders.
Children move across apps and networks; protections should too. Governments can reduce fragmentation by adopting interoperable standards, mutual recognition of privacy-preserving age-assurance approaches, and cross-border cooperation for reporting, evidence-sharing and takedown – with defined roles for telcos, platforms, regulators and law enforcement.
3. Put children’s voices and digital literacy at the centre.
Young people should help define what safety and empowerment look like – informing curricula, platform design and national strategies. Partnerships that scale teacher training and parent support are essential, alongside youth advisory mechanisms. Global alliances such as WeProtect Global Alliance offer collaboration models to build on.
The urgency is heightened by AI companions, generative tools and algorithmic feeds. These can personalise learning and expand access, yet they also introduce new risks including manipulation and targeted abuse.
Our response should evolve accordingly; risk assessments for AI features likely to reach children, age-appropriate interactions, transparency about recommendation systems, and rapid-response pathways when things go wrong – all of these are important guardrails to have in place from the start.
This is not only a safeguarding imperative – it is a competitiveness issue. Markets that offer clear, harmonised COP frameworks provide predictability for innovators; those that lag invite reputational, regulatory and social risks.
Encouragingly, momentum is building. Industry and media collaborations such as MTN and MTV Base’s “Room of Safety” are sparking youth-led conversations about safer digital habits. But systemic impact depends on alignment around common standards, shared accountability and child-informed solutions.
Africa has the chance not just to catch up, but to lead – by embedding child online protection into connectivity expansion.
The African Taskforce for Child Online Protection will take a youth-centric approach which prioritises children's well-being in the digital age by agreeing common standards and working collaboratively.
We invite policymakers, operators, platforms and civil society to join this work and contribute practical commitments that can be tracked over time.
Protecting children online is not a “nice to have”, it is the foundation of sustainable digital growth. Working together, we can build a connected Africa where every child can participate, thrive and remain safe.
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