A child advocacy group wants the African Union to introduce a minimum social media age of 16 and create an African eSafety Commission.
A child advocacy organisation is urging the African Union (AU) to adopt continent-wide measures that would prevent children under the age of 16 from accessing social media platforms.
Ghana-based Child Online Africa has launched a petition calling on the AU to establish stronger protections for children online, arguing that African governments need a coordinated response to growing concerns around cyberbullying, exploitation, harmful content and privacy violations.
At the centre of the campaign is a proposal for the AU to adopt a binding protocol or model law by 2027 that would set 16 as the minimum age for social media use across member states.
Speaking to IOL, Child Online Africa executive director Awo Aidam Amenyah said the organisation had already taken its concerns directly to African policymakers through its #AfricaEsafetyNow campaign.
