The United Nations has issued a warning about the significant risks faced by young people aged 15 to 24 in the digital world, including disinformation, harassment, algorithmic biases, and the malicious use of artificial intelligence (AI). More than eight in 10 individuals in this age group are now online globally, with young people in low-income countries outpacing the rest of the population nearly two to one.

In a brief released on Monday, August 10th, 2026, ahead of International Youth Day, the UN urged Member States, technology companies, advertisers, media, and researchers to prioritize both protection and participation to address these harms. The brief highlights that the risks to young people are often the result of deliberate practices such as algorithms designed to keep users hooked, “dark patterns,” loot boxes, and other tactics that encourage compulsive use. These practices normalize pervasive commercial surveillance and manipulative design during critical developmental years.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called last month for an AI Child Safety Pledge, likening emerging AI technology to untested medicine and advocating for stronger regulation. “No child should be a guinea pig for unregulated AI… When a child is harmed, the answer must never be ‘the algorithm did it,’” Guterres said in July at the first Global Dialogue on AI Governance.

Charlotte Scaddan, UN Senior Adviser on Information Integrity, emphasized the dual role of young people as both vulnerable to and capable of addressing the information crisis. “Protecting them and including them are not competing goals,” she said.

The UN's brief also proposes pathways for Member States to enact laws, for technology companies to enhance child safety, for advertisers to prioritize children’s rights, for news media to better serve young audiences, and for researchers to close gaps, particularly in the Global South.

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