UN Warns Business Models and Unregulated AI Are Fueling an Online Crisis for Children

Business models: the harms are not accidental

The brief makes a pointed argument: the harms young people face online are not accidental. They are the direct product of business models that monetize attention and personal data and of design features built to maximize engagement and expenditure . It specifically flags "dark patterns," loot boxes, and other tactics that drive compulsive use among children, whose habits and identities are still forming . The brief also warns of increasingly hidden advertising tactics that exploit children to boost online spending .

Artificial intelligence: compounding existing risks

AI is compounding existing risks faster than safeguards can keep up. The brief notes risks ranging from AI-generated content to AI-facilitated exploitation . Secretary-General António Guterres is quoted directly: "No child should be a guinea pig for unregulated AI… When a child is harmed, the answer must never be 'the algorithm did it'" .

Youth participation: not just victims, but advocates

The brief insists that children and youth are not only victims — they are creators, advocates, and organizers . However, their perspectives remain underrepresented in the forums where policies are shaped and in the research that informs those policies . The brief is emphatic: "Protecting them and including them are not competing goals. We have to do both" .

The urgency of embedding children's rights into AI governance

The brief calls for children's rights to be written into AI governance frameworks now, while those laws are still being developed — warning that "a window that will not stay open for long" is closing . It urges states, tech companies, advertisers, media, and researchers to act together. It references the Coalition for Children's Rights and Protection in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and the Secretary-General's call for an AI Child Safety Pledge covering any system a child can reach .