// DIGITALISATION, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND QUANTUM: DIGITALISATION
As digital platforms reshape childhood development, mounting evidence of harm and fragmented regulation across G7 members underscore the need for coordinated action Children’s safety in digital environments is a G7 issue
Ilona Kickbusch, director, Digital Transformations for Health Lab, University of Geneva
A NEW CHALLENGE When heads of state and government gather at a G7 summit, they make choices about what the world’s most powerful democra- cies treat as urgent. Climate, trade, security – these have long commanded summit-level attention, but children’s safety in digital environments has not. A strong G7 state- ment on children and social media is a test of whether G7 governments are serious about governing the technologies that are reshap- ing human development. Across G7 members, we now have a substantial and convergent body of research linking heavy social media use in adolescence with elevated rates of anxi- ety, depression, disordered eating and sleep disruption – with girls bearing dispropor- tionate harm. We also have whistleblower disclosures, legislative hearings and inter- nal industry documents demonstrating that platform companies have long possessed this
116 // G7 FRANCE: THE ÉVIAN SUMMIT 2026
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