Children and AI Code: virtual launch

29 April, 15:00 to 16:15 (UTC), online

The Children and AI Code is designed to embed children's rights in the foundations of AI; at each point of the AI lifecycle. The code gives practical guidance and guidelines for companies to ensure that children are not exposed to more risk of harm.

At the launch of the Children and AI Code, we will be joined by:

• Baroness Beeban Kidron, Chair of the 5Rights Foundation and the Digital Futures for Children centre, and a crossbench peer in the UK’s House of Lords.
• Professor Sonia Livingstone, Director of the Digital Futures for Children centre, Professor of Social Psychology at the London School of Economics Department of Media and Communications.
• Professor Ali Hessami, VC & Process Architect, IEEE Ethics Certification Programme for Autonomous & Intelligent Systems, Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers. 
• Amandeep Singh Gill, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies.
• Michael O’Flaherty, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights.
• The Honourable Neema Lugangira MP, Chair of the African Parliamentarians’ Network for Internet Governance, Member of Parliament, Tanzania.

The event is free and open to all. Sign up to the launch.

Teens, sexting and image-based sexual abuse: a child rights approach.

20 May, 18:30-20:30 (BST), Old theatre, hybrid

Although evidence suggests that ‘sexting’ is considered a normal practice among teens, there are, nonetheless, inherent risks. Teens who sext run a range of legal, financial, health, educational and sociosexual risks, yet still they do it. Apart from image-based sexual harassment and abuse, teens also face emerging risks such as AI-informed deepfakes and sextortion. In this public event, four speakers will discuss empirical findings from three different countries: Australia, Sweden and the UK.

Leila Green, Edith Cowan University 

Jessica Ringrose, UCL

Kim Sylwander, Digital Futures for Children centre

Giselle Woodley, Edith Cowan University

Chair: Sonia Livingstone, Digital Ftures for Children centre

The public event is free and open to all. In-person entry is on a first come, first served basis. Registration for the online event will open in mid April. More information.

2nd International Conference on Children’s Rights: Artificial Intelligence, Online Safety and Children’s Rights in the Digital Environment

9-11 September 2025, Stellenbosch University

4 years since the publication of the UN General Comment no. 25 - recognising that children's rights extend to the digital environment - the 2nd International Conference on Children's Rights invites people to reflect on how the proliferation of digital technologies and access to the internet are (re)shaping the exercise of children's rights.

Abstract submission deadline: 25 April 2025. Find out more.

Read about the conference

Doughty Street Chambers - Annual Children's Rights Lecture

Sonia Livingstone presented Children’s Rights Apply Online as Offline – or Do They? with guest young person Nicole Stoilova.

The lecture argues that we must take a holistic approach when discussing children's rights in the digital environment. This means we must consider the full range of children's rights and take into account how children interact with technology (e.g. not just screen time).

Watch here.

The way forward for EdTech and children's rights

Mark West from UNESCO discussed future avenues for EdTech and children’s rights, drawing on findings from the influential report "An EdTech tragedy? Educational technologies and school closures in the time of COVID-19". 

Sonia Livingstone and Ayca Atabey presented the DFC's work on children in the digital environment, EdTech and AI. Experts in children's rights were invited to contribute discussion points and evidence.

Read the event report.

Mark West works in UNESCO’s Education Sector, he is the UNESCO lead for the Gateways to Public Digital Learning Initiative and has authored numerous notable publications.

DFC online meetup: How do we engage children?

A platform that allowed practitioners to share good practice and learn from others. Participants from around the globe gave insights into children's rights, social media, and the engagement of children in research and advocacy. 

Read the event report.

DFC Research insights day 

A day of talks from colleagues and collaborators at the DFC on our latest research and collaborative dialogue about children's rights in the digital environment. Downland a detailed version of the agenda including talk titles and more information about speakers here.

Speakers: Baroness Beeban Kidron, Steve Wood, Dr Kim Sylwander, Professor Ellen Helsper, Shivani Rao, Dr Ivelise Fortim, Dr Mariya Stoilova, Ayça Atabey, Alexandra Evans, Colette Collins-Walsh
Chair: Professor Sonia Livingstone

Read the event report.

Is the internet good for children? (Public lecture)

Speaker: Prof Sonia Livingstone
Chair: Prof Ellen Helsper

Public anxiety about children’s digital lives and wellbeing is reaching a fever pitch, marking a notable turnaround from the decades-long efforts to ensure children are fully digitally included, literate and empowered. While arguments rage over what’s wrong with ‘screen time,’ ‘online harms,’ and data-driven forms of exploitation, this lecture hosted by the Digital Futures for Children centre made the case for a rights-based approach that puts children’s needs at the forefront of the design and deployment of digital services.

Sonia Livingstone argued: "A recent government report raised the question, is food good for children? It may seem odd to ask this, till you consider how food can be bad for them. Then you get the point: it’s the system that’s broken, in many ways – from invisible salt, sugar and fat content, unequal access to affordable vegetables, lack of resources to cook from scratch, junk food marketing, etc. The answer is not to ban food, though likely to restrict certain kinds of food. But clearly, multiple forms of intervention are needed to improve children’s lives, including fixing the broken food system. We can say the same of the internet. Is it good for children? It could be. It should be. But first we have to fix the broken system that is undermining children’s digital lives in so many ways. Our DigitalFutures4Children research proposes Child Rights by Design as a constructive way forward."

Watch the lecture

Listen to the podcast

Academic roundtable: social media and child's rights

The DFC hosted an academic roundtable discussing children's rights and social media.

Read the roundtable summary here.

Smartphone policies in schools: an online workshop for secondary school teachers

The DFC held a workshop for secondary school teachers where they learnt what the evidence says and explored how smartphone policies can best be designed from a child rights perspective.

The workshop was CPD-certified and part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2024 - Our Digital Lives.

Read the review of the evidence.

Read the wokshop report.

DFC summer meet-up

The DFC hosted a summer meet-up in July 2024 and we were joined by friends and collaborators from all over the world to discuss ongoing DFC projects and share experiences and suggestions.

Read our reflections from the summer meet-up.

Access the presentations: General comment No. 25 and DFC research database

Children’s online marketing harms: roundtable

The DFC hosted an in-person academic roundtable in June 2024 focusing on evidence of the harmful impact of online marketing on children and young people. The discusison covered negative outcomes from marketing tactics such as obesity, body dissatisfaction, and unsafe behaviours.

Read our reflections from the roundtable.

Tech tantrums - when tech meets humanity (Public lecture)

Speaker: Baroness Beeban Kidron
Chair: Professor Sonia Livingstone

In this talk, Beeban Kidron, best known for her global impact on tech regulation to benefit children, set out why issues around AI must not be left to tech experts and unaccountable corporations during her lively and well-attended DFC public lecture, chaired by Prof Sonia Livingstone.

Watch the lecture

Listen to the podcast

Read the blogs: AI companies have to become democratically accountable and Tech tantrums – when tech meets humanity

Impact of regulation on children’s digital lives | Report launch

New legislation and regulations are driving social media companies to make child safety and privacy changes, finds our new report by Steve Wood of PrivacyX Consulting and ex-ICO Deputy Commissioner. The report was launched on 20th May 2024 at the House of Lords.

Read the report

Read the blog

Digital Media Use in Early Childhood: Birth to Six | Book launch

The DFC launched Digital Media in Early Childhood: Birth to Six on 7th May 2024 with a lively and well attended event in LSE’s Shaw Library.

Read the event report

Speakers: Professor Sonia Livingstone, Professor Susan Danby, Professor Lelia Green and Professor Brian O’Neill

DFC celebrated the launch of Digital media use in early childhood with the authors and discussants. The book draws on a three-year research project examining the realities of under six-year-olds' experiences of digital technologies in the UK and Australia. At the launch, the authors presented the key arguments and reflect on a child rights-informed approach to early years’ digital lives.

More about the book

Pre-order book (flyer with discount code)

Launching: Digital Futures for Children

In case you missed the launch of Digital Futures for Children – a research collaboration between 5Rights Foundation and the Department of Media and Communications at London School of Economics and Political Science – you can find out more here.

Watch the webinar

Read about the event