Children’s welfare is no longer confined to the physical world. As children increasingly engage with social media, online gaming, messaging applications, streaming services and other digital platforms, protecting their safety and wellbeing requires consideration of the risks they may encounter online.
Recognising these evolving challenges, the UAE has introduced a significant new legislative framework through Federal Decree-Law No. 26 of 2025 Regarding Child Digital Safety (the Child Digital Safety Law). The legislation establishes a national framework designed to protect children from harmful online content, conduct and practices, while promoting the responsible, safe and age-appropriate use of digital services.
The Child Digital Safety Law is intended to apply broadly to digital platforms that operate within the UAE or provide services directed towards users in the UAE. It includes a wide range of digital services and platforms, such as social-media platforms, websites, messaging applications, gaming platforms and streaming services.
The legislation seeks to establish greater safeguards against digital content and practices with an aim to protect children from online risks. The increasing accessibility of smartphones, tablets, gaming platforms and social-media applications means that children can potentially be exposed to inappropriate or harmful material from a young age. There are also the risks associated with online interactions, cyberbullying, exploitation, inappropriate communications and other forms of harmful digital behaviour. The Child Digital Safety Law represents an important development in the UAE’s wider child-protection framework, recognising that safeguarding children requires protection both offline and online.
What are the Parents roles when it comes to digital platforms?
Child digital safety is not solely a matter for parents. While parents and guardians have an important role in supervising and educating children about responsible digital use, the legislation also places the wider digital environment under greater regulatory scrutiny.
Digital platforms increasingly have an important role to play in ensuring that their services are designed and operated with children’s safety in mind. Age-appropriate safeguards, responsible platform design and appropriate measures to reduce children’s exposure to harmful material are therefore becoming increasingly important. For parents, this means that understanding the digital services used by their children and taking appropriate steps to promote safe online behaviour remains an important part of parental responsibility.
The introduction of the Child Digital Safety Law reflects the UAE’s recognition that the concept of child welfare must evolve alongside technology. Children today may spend a significant proportion of their time communicating, learning, playing and socialising online. The risks they face in those environments can have consequences for their emotional and psychological wellbeing in the physical world. The legislation therefore forms part of a broader approach to ensuring that children are able to benefit from technology while being protected from its potential harms.
What does this mean for separated or divorced parents?
With a rise in the breakdown of the family unit, digital safety is becoming an increasingly relevant aspect of co-parenting. Parents may need to consider issues such as the child’s access to social media, online gaming, mobile devices, screen time and the sharing of photographs or personal information online. Where parents have different approaches to digital safety, disagreements may arise as to what platforms a child should be permitted to use and what safeguards should be put in place. As with other significant aspects of a child’s upbringing, effective communication between parents can help ensure that the child’s welfare remains the primary consideration. As technology continues to develop, the protection of children’s welfare must develop alongside it, ensuring that children can access the benefits of the digital world in a manner that is safe, responsible and appropriate to their age.
What are the responsibilities of parents and those caring for the children?
Article 13 of the Child Digital Safety Law places a number of responsibilities on those caring for children. Caregivers are expected to monitor children’s digital activities and make use of appropriate parental-control tools. They must also avoid creating accounts for children on platforms that are unsuitable for their age and take appropriate measures to protect children’s privacy and personal data.
All caregivers are also expected to educate children about responsible digital use and the psychological, behavioural and health risks associated with excessive or unsafe use of social media platforms.
What happens when you fail to report harmful digital content?
The Child Digital Safety Law places an express obligation on parents, guardians and other persons legally responsible for a child to take an active role in protecting children from online risks. Under Article 13, a caregiver must immediately report to the competent authorities any harmful content or child pornography material to which a child in their care is exposed. At present, the legislation does not prescribe a specific fine or term of imprisonment for a caregiver solely for failing to comply with this reporting obligation. However, Article 16 provides that the applicable administrative penalties are to be determined by Cabinet regulation. The legislation also preserves more serious penalties that may arise under other UAE laws where the underlying conduct constitutes a separate criminal offence.
The UAE has also introduced Cabinet Resolution No. 106 of 2026 regarding the Regulation of Children’s Access to Social Media Platforms. Under Article 3 of this Resolution, children who have not reached the age of 15 may not create, use or operate personal accounts on social-media platforms falling within the Resolution. It further states that children aged 15 but under 16 may access social-media platforms, but their accounts must be subject to enhanced protections and restrictions appropriate to their age. These may include limits on accessible content, restrictions on interaction with unknown users and controls over the length and timing of platform use. Parents should be aware that their consent does not override the statutory restrictions imposed by the Resolution.
How are the ages of the children verified?
Digital platforms are expected to take greater responsibility for determining the age of their users. Under Article 8 of the Child Digital Safety Law, digital platforms operating in or directed towards the UAE must adopt effective and reasonable age-verification mechanisms appropriate to the level of risk presented by the platform. Further, detailed standards contained in Cabinet Resolution No. 106 of 2026 require age-verification systems to be sufficiently accurate while limiting the personal information collected to what is necessary for verification.
In family proceedings, the law increasingly emphasises continued involvement by both parents following divorce, subject always to the child’s best interests. At the same time, the digital-safety framework places new responsibilities on parents and technology platforms to protect children against online risks. For families, these changes make it increasingly important to understand not only parental rights following separation or divorce, but also the responsibilities that arise in relation to children’s welfare and digital activity.
For specific advice regarding any of the matters outlined above, please contact our Family Law Department at [email protected] or Dee Popat at [email protected]
