Connecting the world and beyond

POP: Protection through online Participation

POP: PROTECTION TROUGH ONLINE PARTICIPATION

Children increasingly use digital platforms not only to learn, play, and connect, but also to seek help, advice, and support when they feel unsafe or at risk. While digital environments can expose children to harm, they also hold significant potential to act as pathways to protection and support.

Protection through Online Participation (PoP) is a global, multi-stakeholder initiative bringing together more than 30 partners under ITU's Child Online Protection Programme, co-led with the Office of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children (SRSG-VAC), in partnership with the Global Cybersecurity Forum (GCF).

PoP aims to ensure that children can safely and effectively access protection and support through digital platforms when experiencing any form of violence or harm — online or offline. The initiative promotes a rights-based, coordinated approach that connects digital technology platforms, child helplines and similar services, and national child protection systems, recognizing digital spaces as critical entry points to safety and care.

PoP Guiding Principles
PoP: Protection through Online Participation – The 5Ps
Guiding principles to facilitate children's access to protection and support through digital means

The PoP Guiding Principles set out a shared vision for transforming digital environments into safe, accessible, and effective pathways to protection and support for children.

Developed by ITU and SRSG-VAC, with invaluable contribution from PoP Partners, the Principles provide practical, rights-based guidance for policy-makers, digital technology platforms, civil society organizations, child helplines, and similar services.

The Principles are built around the 5Ps:

Protect – Prioritize safety, inclusivity, and accessibility.
Progress – Expand and diversify actions and strategies to help and support children.
Partner – Strengthen collaboration across sectors.
Participate – Meaningfully and safely engage children and young people.
Push – Commit, advocate, and invest in digital pathways to protection and support.

The PoP Guiding Principles are voluntary and aspirational. They complement existing international frameworks on online safety and children's rights in the digital environment and encourage a holistic, child-rights-centred approach that integrates digital pathways into broader child protection systems.

[Download the publication]

WHY PoP MATTERS

Digital spaces can be gateways to protection

The digital environment presents a dual reality for children: it can expose them to harm, but it can also connect them with safety, protection, and support. The PoP Guiding Principles call for a broader understanding of online safety — one that not only seeks to prevent risks, but also recognizes the potential of digital platforms to help children reach trusted services when they need them most.

Evidence and consultations informing the PoP Principles show that:

143 child helplines and similar services from 83 countries shared insights on how digital channels are being used to support children.
In an online poll with nearly 600 children and young people from 87 countries, 76 per cent said they turn to online platforms for support when feeling unsafe or uncomfortable, either always or sometimes.
Among the child helplines and similar services consulted, over 70 per cent address sexual and online violence; over 60 per cent address domestic violence, mental health, bullying, and violence against girls and women.

These findings underline the importance of ensuring that digital pathways to support are safe, accessible, inclusive, and connected to wider child protection systems.

From evidence to action

PoP expands the global understanding of child online protection by examining how children use digital technologies not only to connect and participate, but also to seek help and access protection.

The PoP Guiding Principles were informed by insights and perspectives from:

child helplines and similar online support services;
children and young people, including those developing digital protection solutions for their peers;
digital technology platforms, including social media and gaming platforms;
civil society organizations, academia, policy-makers, and United Nations partners.

These insights confirm that digital tools, when designed ethically, safely, and inclusively, can enhance access to timely, confidential, and effective support. At the same time, they highlight persistent challenges, including data privacy, accessibility, service capacity, digital divides, and the need for stronger cross-sector collaboration.

The PoP Guiding Principles translate these lessons into practical ways forward for:

Policy-makers, to integrate digital pathways to protection into national policies, legislation, and strategies;
Digital technology platforms, to facilitate access to support, strengthen prevention and referral mechanisms, and collaborate with child protection actors;
Child helplines and similar services, to expand safe, inclusive, and resilient digital support channels for children.

Children are turning to the online world to be safe

Children and young people are already using digital environments to seek safety and support.

They are:

reporting violence;
connecting with helplines through online channels;
accessing counselling and referrals;
finding information when they feel unsafe;
creating innovative peer-led solutions to address the protection needs of other children and young people.

PoP recognizes this reality and calls for systems that are designed to respond: safely, timely, inclusively, and with children's rights at the centre.

The goal is a digital environment where children are not only protected from harm, but also empowered to access support, participate meaningfully, and receive help when they need it.

HELP US CONTINUE LEARNING

The PoP Guiding Principles were informed by surveys, consultations, interviews, and multi-stakeholder collaboration. ITU and partners continues to welcome insights that can deepen understanding of how children and young people use digital technologies to access safety, protection, and support.

Are you:

an official help service?
a young person who has used online platforms to seek help and support?
an industry platform that can share insights on how children access protection?
an AI-driven system platform?

Then share your experience through the relevant survey below:

For official help services	For child and youth-led solutions	For learning from the ICTs industries	For AI driven systems

HOW THE PoP PRINCIPLES WERE DEVELOPED

The PoP Guiding Principles were developed through an inclusive, multi-stakeholder process, drawing on evidence and perspectives from child helplines and similar services, children and young people, technology companies, civil society organizations, academia, and United Nations partners.

The development process combined:

evidence gathered through surveys and consultations;
in-depth learning from child helplines and similar services;
insights from digital technology companies on how their platforms may connect children with protection and support;
experiences from children and young people, including those leading digital solutions for their peers;
collaborative reflection among experts from different sectors.

This process reflects a core message of PoP: enabling children to access protection and support through digital means requires coordinated action across both the digital and child protection ecosystems.

A SHARED CALL TO ACTION

The PoP Guiding Principles invite all stakeholders to move beyond minimum standards and reimagine child protection for the digital age.

A safer digital future for children requires:

protection and support mechanisms embedded within the platforms children already use;
sustained investment in accessible, inclusive, and ethical digital services;
meaningful participation of children and young people in shaping the systems that affect them;
stronger collaboration between governments, digital technology platforms, child helplines, civil society, and other child protection actors;
continuous learning, evidence, and adaptation as technologies and children's digital experiences evolve.

Protecting children online is a shared responsibility. With the PoP Guiding Principles as a foundation, digital platforms and services can contribute not only to shielding children from harm, but also to empowering them to seek help, access the support they need, and thrive.

PARTNERS

The PoP Guiding Principles were developed by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children (SRSG-VAC), with invaluable contribution from PoP Partners - a broad multi-stakeholder group of organizations and experts working across child rights, online safety, digital policy, technology, and child protection.