Considering children's rights in the design of Web 4.0 and Virtual Worlds

• 04/02/2025
• Report

On 31 March and 1 April, European Commission (EC) organized the Global Multistakeholder High-Level Conference on Governance of Web 4.0 and Virtual Worlds in the framework of the Polish Presidency of the Council. Over the two days, more than 100 participants on site and many more online discussed a broad range of issues related to emerging technologies. The conference was preceded by two online consultations held by the EC in 2023 and 2024, to which our project Child Protection and Children’s Rights in the Digital Worldcontributed from a child rights perspective.

Starting with a High Level Panel with the title "Internet Governance today and tomorrow – Preparing for the Challenges and Opportunities of the Future Web", the following speakers set the scene. Olga Cavalli from the National Defense Faculty, University of the National Defence Argentina / SSIF Soth School on Internet Governance pointed out that the multistakeholder approach doesn’t mean that all stakeholders are equal. The beauty of multi-stakeholderism is that they are diverse and benefit from exchanging their different perspectives, she said. Seizo Onoe, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, asked how the multistakeholder approach can respond to the very fast innovation of technologies. He stated then that standardization is building the grounds for various stakeholders’ co-operation.  ICANN President and Chief Executive Officer Kurtis Lindqvist referred to the phenomenally stable and secure Internet that we have seen over the last 20 years, since WSIS Tunis in 2005. In his view,  standardization has been driven by multi-stakeholderism. And it is up to us to make the virtual worlds accessible to everyone again and to ensure interoperability, he said. Finally, Ghenga Sesan, Executive Director of the Paradigm Initiative and member of the IGF Leadership Panel, warned that control is not the best approach to innovation. He pointed out that in his view, regulation is not control, but understanding and support. Referring to the Internet Governance Forum, he stressed that the IGF is not just a platform for discussion, but a platform for action, thus underlining its role in shaping the future of virtual worlds.

Based on a detailed background document, various break-out sessions took place, each enriched by the expertise and statements of stakeholders in the room and online participants. In these sessions, children’s rights were raised by several stakeholders. In addition to the above given statement by Digital Opportunities Foundation above, we stressed that their needs should be taken into account from the very beginning of  the development of services and applications in and for virtual worlds. Children and young people should not be considered as a particiular vulnerable group, but should also be respected as rights holders in virtual environments, as demanded by General Comment No. 25, which comprehensively explains the right of access to the media (Article 17 CRC) on the basis of all children's rights. 

We pointed out that children have been known as the early adopters of digital technologies for more than two decades now and that children have already started to explore and inhabit virtual worlds and Web 4.0. Virtual worlds offer great potential and a wide range of opportunities for children to learn, grow and participate in democratic society. But, at the same time, risks and threats to their well-being cannot be denied. In this context, providers of services, content, and devices for access to virtual worlds need to take in account the child’s best interest as a guiding principle. A child rights impact assessment should therefore be mandatory before services and applications reach market maturity and are commercialized.

We also provided information on the  concept of personal integrity, which was implemented with the second amendment into the German Youth Protection Act 2021. The concept has evolved by expanding beyond the dimensions of physical and mental integrity to include the protection of personal data. Personal data are understood as elements that represent a person in digital space and are inseparable from that person. Any misuse of this data would therefore be considered a violation of the person. Against that backdrop, personal integrity includes the protection of physical and psychological integrity as well as personal data. With regard to children, the age-appropriate and future-open development as well as the informational and sexual self-determination of minors must be ensured. Conversely, the abuse of inexperience and age, economic exploitation and the commercial or other improper processing and dissemination of user data are, conversely, contrary to the protection of personal integrity. In the intervention we proposed to adopt and implement this concept for all human users in policies and regulations on the digital environment.

To protect children and their personal integrity in digital environments, we highlighted an African proverb that says it takes a whole village to raise a child. So we argued for the creation of such a village in virtual worlds where multiple actors take responsibility for ensuring that children grow up safely in the era of Web 4.0. Just as the Internet was initially developed at its beginning for military and academic purposes and was not intended for children, the metaverse is now developed with a focus on its economic potential. It is likely that we will have to learn the same lessons again, namely that market forces alone will not regulate the emerging field in a way that serves the interests of all. Robust multi-stakeholder governance, as is exercised successfully at the Internet Governance Forum, is therefore the only way to create a level playing field that also supports also those providers with a particular focus on the protection and needs of all users, and especially vulnerable groups, and to prevent uncontrolled growth. 

Finally, the conference concluded with a strong commitment to the multi-stakeholder approach and a plea for a strategy to avoid the fragmentation of the Internet and to implement a forward-looking standardization. Globally there should be ONE Internet providing the backbone for a diverse range of applications.