Rego, on the need to protect children's digital identity: "The lives of 21st century children cannot be written from Silicon Valley"

The Minister for Youth and Children, Sira Rego, at the event "I am, you are, we are and we have rights", commemorating the Universal Children's Rights Day

The Minister for Youth and Children, Sira Rego, stressed the need to protect the identity of children and adolescents in digital environments. Rego noted that her ministry is working to regulate, among other things, commercial "sharenting," and stressed that "the lives of 21st century children cannot be written from Silicon Valley".

During the event 'I am, you are, we are and we have rights', commemorating Universal Children's Rights Day and organised by the Spanish Children's Platform (POI), Minister Rego reiterated the need to "set limits on the system that turns the private lives of children and adolescents into spectacle, data, or merchandise".

For the Minister for Youth and Children, "there are clicks that are also forms of violence", and she recalled that recent data indicates that approximately one in four adolescents has experienced digital violence.

Rego also recalled that the Law for the protection of minors in digital environments is still being processed in Parliament. Referring to this law, she stated that "the rights and freedoms of children and adolescents cannot depend on the opaque logic of an algorithm", and therefore advocated for "a space regulated according to common principles".

Finally, addressing the demands expressed by the children who participated in the event, representing the POI, Rego reaffirmed children's right to privacy, association and cultural identity. In this regard, Rego reiterated that "children are active subjects of rights, political subjects with their own thoughts, opinions, and perspectives".

Non official translation