Photo Credit: UNICEF Zimbabwe
With almost all 10-year-olds now online and virtual learning which in most countries started during the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping children safe in Cyberspace is an urgent problem that requires an immediate solution.
Eullah Ncube and Calvin Manika
In the age of modern technology, the era at which children are exposed to the digital world. This digital knowledge, however, is been marred by potential risks lurking online. The advancement of technology is making cybercriminals to redraw tactics and strategies to exploit young internet users.
Children’s rights experts have been voicing on different platforms for everyone participating in the internet and child protection ecosystem, including international organizations, regulators and law enforcement agencies, parents, caregivers, education providers, and technology businesses in the private sector, to play their duties.
The number of victims of cyber attacks in Zimbabwe is rising daily. Children are being targeted by friends, lovers, con artists, and online sex workers.
A community-based organization in Gwanda, Skill A Community, is teaching the locals about the techniques hackers use to breach people’s networks and online safety measures.
According to a recent global survey by The Global Cybersecurity Forum (GCF), 72% of children worldwide have dealt with at least one kind of internet threat.
In a time when over 90% of children ages eight and older are active online, the “Why Children Are Unsafe in Cyberspace” report, developed in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group, brought to attention pressing problems pertaining to the protection of children in cyberspace.
The study polled more than forty thousand parents and children in six different nations and regions. The overwhelming majority of respondents indicated that there is insufficient safety for today’s children online, which is having an impact on kids everywhere and necessitating immediate group action.
According to those polled, the most common dangers encountered are unsolicited advertisements, offensive pictures and content, and bullying and harassment.
Children use technology most frequently at home or at school, according to the research, but only half of them feel safe doing so, and one in five of them said they have experienced bullying or harassment.
The report urges all parties involved, parents, teachers, tech firms, and law enforcement to work together to make sure that effective solutions are discovered to address the threat that children face online.
Rachael Voko Ncube, a young poet, founder of Skill A Community, which primarily targets young women and girls in the Matabeleland region, who have been the majority of the victims, looks into a future where cyber bullying and abuse will be a thing of the past.
With the support of the European Union and the Culture Fund, Ncube is raising awareness of the positive and negative aspects of the internet through her Digital Haven initiative.
“Everybody is impacted by cyberbullying, men and women alike. We are primarily targeting young women and girls, particularly those who work in the arts and are frequently the targets of cyberbullying. However, men are not ignored by this; they are frequently victims as well,” Ncube said.
The growing prevalence of gender-based violence online served as the program’s inspiration. According to the Ncube, artists frequently find that many individuals are using their works online without their permission, either by filtering or replicating them. Many artists encounter trolls who defame them in an attempt to obtain notoriety and financial advantage.
“The goal of the Digital Haven initiative is to reduce or eliminate cyber attacks on local communities. Since then, we have educated young ladies about digital security and safety,” Ncube continued.
The initiative is presently operating in Gwanda after making it to Plumtree and Bulawayo. Nonetheless, Ncube is thinking of using the internet to reach all of Zimbabwe and beyond.
The GCF’s Initiatives & Partnerships Lead, Ms. Alaa AlFaadhel, commented on the report expressing confidence in the data available to stimulate action.
“We believe the protection of children is crucial in a rapidly developing Cyberspace, especially since 72% of children face cyber threats. Raising awareness of the problems and ensuring that everyone takes coordinated action—from educators to the commercial sector—will help address the persistent hazards that children face. As the internet grows more and more integrated into our daily lives, it is our collective duty to establish a secure environment for learning and social interaction,” AlFaadhel explained.
At the time child protection stakeholders are dealing with the legacy cyber threats, artificial intelligence (AI) has led to the emergence of several obscure applications with seemingly harmless capabilities like submitting a photo and getting a modified version back, whether it’s basic retouching or an anime-style image.
Children’s rights advocate Gerald Moyo said that when adults, much less kids, upload their pictures to these kinds of apps, they never know which databases the images would end up in or whether they will be utilised for other purposes.
“Even if your child chooses to use one of these apps,” Moyo advised parents to use extreme caution and make sure that no sensitive information, “such as names or addresses combined with other personal information is visible in the background of the image. You should also think about avoiding using these apps entirely.”
When asked, AI apps (chatbots in particular) can readily deliver content that is improper for a user’s age. Moyo said teenagers may feel more at ease disclosing private information to a chatbot than to friends in real life, which increases the risk.
“There are a ton of AI chatbots that are made expressly to create a “erotic” experience, which is even more unsuitable. While some need some sort of age verification, this is a risky trend because some kids may choose to mislead about their age when there aren’t enough age verification checks,” added Moyo.
It’s believed that over 300,000 chatbots are active on Facebook Messenger alone. But not all of them are secure.
Marceline Chisvetu, a counsellor said, it is crucial to constantly talk to children about their online experiences and to teach them the value of privacy and the risks associated with oversharing.
“It also emphasises how important it is to build relationships of trust with one’s children. This will guarantee that children are more at ease approaching their parents for guidance than relying on a chatbot.”
Chisvetu said parents may help their children have a safer online environment by keeping up with the current risks and carefully monitoring their online habits.
“The days when parents could defend their ignorance with a valid excuse are long gone; now, they need to be knowledgeable and capable of guiding their kids through the internet.”
