UAE Advances Child Online Safety and Places Digital Citizenship Education at the Heart of Protection

Dr. Fatin Sleem: Regulatory frameworks strengthen child protection, while Digital Citizenship Education builds awareness and responsible online behavior

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 4 July 2026 — In a forward-looking step that reflects the UAE’s commitment to strengthening child protection in the digital environment, the decision to regulate children’s access to social media platforms and set the minimum age for personal accounts at 15 places digital safety at the center of educational and societal dialogue.

The decision reflects a proactive approach to protecting children online by establishing a clear framework for the use of social media platforms, reinforcing the responsibilities of platforms and caregivers, and positioning digital safety as an essential part of the wider child protection ecosystem. It also demonstrates a strong understanding of the challenges children and adolescents may face in digital environments, including privacy protection, personal data, exposure to inappropriate content, misinformation, and unsafe patterns of online interaction.

This direction offers an important reference point for countries seeking to strengthen child online safety, particularly as children’s presence on digital platforms continues to grow. It also highlights the importance of Digital Citizenship Education as a complementary educational pathway that helps children use technology with awareness, responsibility, respect, and a deeper understanding of their rights and responsibilities in the digital world.

Commenting on the decision, Dr. Fatin Sleem, PhD in Education, Educational Consultant and Expert, said: “Regulating children’s access to social media platforms represents a leading step in strengthening digital safety. It provides a clear framework for prevention and responsibility and reaffirms the importance of protecting children in a rapidly changing digital environment. This direction also creates an important opportunity to advance Digital Citizenship Education as an educational pathway that helps children and adolescents acquire the cognitive, ethical, and behavioral competencies needed to use technology safely and responsibly. Children need to learn how to protect their privacy and personal data, verify information, distinguish between safe and unsafe communication, and understand the impact of text, images, videos, and digital interactions on themselves and others.”

Modern educational literature emphasizes that Digital Citizenship Education goes beyond the technical use of technology. It includes an integrated set of competencies that combine knowledge, skills, values, attitudes, and critical understanding. These competencies include digital safety, privacy, personal cybersecurity, media and information literacy, responsible communication, ethical online behavior, and positive participation in digital communities.

The UAE’s decision further reinforces the importance of combining regulatory protection with educational development, supporting children’s ability to develop digital self-regulation and make informed decisions when engaging with platforms, content, and digital relationships.

Dr. Sleem added: “Digital Citizenship Education should begin at an early age and in a developmentally appropriate manner. It helps children understand privacy, verify information, regulate their digital behavior, and respond consciously to online social pressure. Embedding Digital Citizenship Education into school culture strengthens national efforts to protect children and prepare them for a safer and more responsible digital world.”

International approaches classify children’s digital risks into interrelated categories, including content risks, contact risks, conduct risks, and commercial or consumer risks, in addition to risks related to privacy, data, advanced technologies, health, and well-being. This highlights the importance of adopting a comprehensive educational approach that brings together prevention, awareness, skills development, school policies, family engagement, and platform responsibility.

In this context, Dr. Sleem stressed that schools play a central role in transforming Digital Citizenship Education from a theoretical concept into a daily educational practice within academic curricula. Digital citizenship can be integrated into language, science, civic education, research activities, classroom projects, school communication rules, and the use of digital sources.

She said: “Digital citizenship is a shared educational responsibility. When a student learns to verify a source in a scientific research task, respect different opinions in a classroom discussion, understand the impact of images and words in a language lesson, or protect personal data during a digital activity, the student is not merely using technology; they are practicing digital citizenship within the curriculum itself.”

Dr. Sleem also emphasized that families are essential partners in reinforcing this awareness through continuous dialogue with children around screen time, privacy, online relationships, content, boundaries of sharing, and seeking help when facing unsafe digital situations.

She concluded: “The UAE’s decision represents an advanced model for protecting children online and affirms that the future of digital safety lies in the integration of regulation and Digital Citizenship Education. Through this integration, children become better equipped to participate in the digital world with awareness, safety, respect, and responsibility.”