G7 leaders, joined by partner countries including India, Brazil, Egypt, Kenya and the Republic of Korea, on Wednesday adopted a joint declaration calling for stronger safeguards to protect children and young people in the digital space. The initiative seeks to reshape how online platforms and emerging technologies interact with users under the age of 18.

Issued during the G7 Summit in Évian, France, the declaration highlighted both the benefits and risks of digital technologies. While recognising their role in expanding access to education and healthcare, the leaders warned of growing threats posed by harmful content, addictive platform designs and the impact of emerging artificial intelligence systems on the well-being of children and adolescents.

Leaders Push for ‘Safety-by-Design’ Approach

The declaration urged governments, digital service providers and other stakeholders to make the online safety, privacy and mental health of children a priority.

“We call on all governments, digital service providers, public authorities where applicable and relevant stakeholders to prioritise the protection of children and youth’s physical and mental health, privacy and safety online,” the leaders said in the joint statement.

Central to the initiative is a “safety-by-design” framework that would require platforms to build protective measures into their services from the outset rather than introducing them later. The leaders called for default settings that provide greater safeguards and enable parents and guardians to manage children’s digital experiences more effectively.

They also stressed the need for age-appropriate online environments and stronger mechanisms to verify users’ ages while respecting privacy and national legal frameworks.

“We call on digital service providers to develop and apply technology and systems that ensure safe, secure and age-appropriate experiences, including through effective and innovative age assurance mechanisms, while preserving the privacy of users according to respective jurisdictions, national circumstances and applicable legal frameworks. We support comprehensive risk-based approaches, and empowering parents and guardians through meaningful and easy-to-use parental controls tools and information,” the statement said.

Concerns Raised Over Artificial Intelligence and Harmful Content

The leaders acknowledged the growing influence of conversational artificial intelligence systems and expressed concern about their potential impact on the safety and mental well-being of young users.

They emphasised the importance of equipping children and adolescents with the skills required to engage responsibly in digital spaces and urged technology providers to introduce safeguards without delay.

“We recognise risks associated with children and youth’s use of conversational artificial intelligence systems, undermining their well-being and safety and reinforcing the need to build their critical skills to engage responsibly in digital space. Providers need to develop and apply safety settings by default for children and youth, including parental control tools and age assurance solutions, to make conversational artificial intelligence tools safer for children and youth, in a timely manner,” the statement read.

The declaration also reaffirmed the leaders’ commitment to eliminating child sexual abuse material, non-consensual intimate imagery and deepfakes, describing the issue as a fundamental principle in the development and deployment of AI systems and digital services.

“To contribute to the necessary prevention of these criminal acts, digital service providers must implement effective detection and removal measures on their platforms. The prohibition of such content as well as online grooming, sexual exploitation and sexual extortion, remains a non-negotiable principle in the development and deployment of artificial intelligence systems and digital services,” the statement said.

Cooperation With Law Enforcement and Focus on Digital Literacy

The participating countries urged digital service providers to work closely with law enforcement agencies to tackle the exploitation and recruitment of children by organised criminal networks, including those involved in drug trafficking and violent extremism.

The leaders said parents, guardians and carers should also be given the tools and information necessary to prevent such threats.

They further backed efforts by industry to help young users distinguish between authentic and AI-generated content, while highlighting the importance of improving digital literacy so that children and adolescents can use technology responsibly.

The declaration also called for evidence-based policymaking and greater transparency in assessing the impact of artificial intelligence and algorithmic systems on minors.

“Advancing scientific knowledge and evidence-based policymaking benefits from the sharing of data, impartial evaluations and common standards in assessment methodologies of artificial intelligence models and algorithmic systems, to objectively evaluate impact on minors’ safety. In order to support an evidence-based approach, transparency and accountability are essential. We will work together with relevant stakeholders to support this research and evaluations,” the leaders said.

The G7 leaders welcomed the previously adopted “G7 Common Set of Principles” and asked officials to meet regularly and review progress on the initiative by the end of the year.

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