The index of childhood safety in the digital environment will appear in Russia

The Digital Childhood Safety Index, an analytical tool for monitoring threats and evaluating the effectiveness of measures to protect minors on the Internet, will appear in Russia. The index will allow combining the efforts of government, public and commercial structures, providing a coordinated approach to security.

The family of indexes, developed by the Alliance for the Protection of Children in the Digital Environment in collaboration with MINDSMITH, will take into account data on current threats, the level of digital literacy, the degree of satisfaction with technological solutions for online security, and other significant parameters.

At the moment, the first stage of the study has been completed: a review and systematization of information about structures dealing with child safety on the Internet — from government agencies to non-profit organizations. The researchers analyzed more than 200 Russian organizations and 500 initiatives related to the protection of children online, and based on these data compiled a "stakeholder map." In total, 13 types of stakeholders were identified, grouped into four clusters: government, commercial, academic and educational, as well as public initiatives and the media.

Each cluster performs specific functions in the field of digital child safety, but the work of stakeholders is often fragmented and does not lead to comprehensive solutions. The creation of the index is an important step towards a more coordinated and systematic protection of children in the digital space.

"The study showed a large number of activities in this area, but none of the existing approaches by itself is capable of providing comprehensive work to protect children in a digital environment. It is necessary to combine the expertise of different organizations and systematize disparate efforts. We hope that the index will become an important building block in building a secure digital childhood and help the professional community work more efficiently," said Ruslan Yusufov, founder and managing partner of MINDSMITH, an expert in the field of technological trends and information security.

According to the sociological research of the Alliance for the Protection of Children in the Digital Environment for 2023, 96% of teenagers in Russia faced digital threats, and about 30% of parents and children lacked information on how to respond to digital threats. At the same time, the digital security course is still not mandatory in universities and schools, which deprives teenagers of systemic knowledge and makes them especially vulnerable.

"The complex nature of the problem requires the development of partnerships and cooperation networks. It is important not only to respond promptly to threats, but also to systematically prevent them by creating effective protection mechanisms," commented Elizaveta Belyakova, Chairman of the Alliance for the Protection of Children in the Digital Environment.

The Alliance for the Protection of Children in the Digital Environment plans to involve leading IT companies, government institutions and educational institutions in the creation of a sustainable monitoring and coordination system in the field of child safety on the Internet.