Ten years ago, the systems, evidence and partnerships needed to protect children online were only beginning to emerge. Since then, Safe Online has helped build the global foundations for child online safety. This report reflects on a decade of progress, the challenges shaping the field today, and the priorities that will define the next decade.
Child online safety is at a defining moment. Over the past decade, greater investment, stronger evidence and global collaboration have transformed the field. Yet as technology continues to evolve, so too do the risks facing children.
This report takes stock of where child online safety stands today, what has changed over the past ten years, and where collective action is needed next. It brings together the evidence, achievements and lessons that will help shape the next decade of protecting children in the digital world.
Progress has been made. The challenge is growing faster.
Technology is reshaping childhood at an unprecedented pace. While the past decade has seen significant progress in protecting children online, new technologies, including artificial intelligence, are accelerating existing harms and creating new forms of exploitation. The need for collective action has never been more urgent.
A year of progress built on a decade of collaboration.
While this report marks ten years of Safe Online, it also captures an important year of progress. Across investment, evidence, advocacy and learning, 2025 demonstrates how a decade of building the field continues to translate into action.
In 2025, Safe Online focused its work around four strategic objectives: investing for impact, generating evidence and knowledge, advancing advocacy and action, and measuring change. Each objective contributed to a stronger, more coordinated global response to child online safety.
Directing funding where it can make the greatest difference.
Safe Online invested nearly US$15 million in initiatives tackling the most urgent challenges in child online safety. In Pakistan, support helped strengthen national child online protection systems through a new Child Online Protection Coordination Forum, while 216 master trainers went on to equip approximately 150,000 educators with the knowledge and skills to help children stay safe online.
Building the evidence needed to stay ahead of emerging threats.
In 2025, Safe Online supported research that is shaping policy and practice around the world. A Stanford University study exposed critical gaps in how schools and platforms respond to AI-generated child sexual abuse material, while research in the Philippines is informing proposed changes to national legislation on online child exploitation.
Turning evidence into global momentum.
Safe Online launched the Safe Digital Futures – Invest in Children coalition, bringing together global partners to position child online safety as a development and investment priority. At the same time, grantees helped drive national change, contributing to major policy developments in countries including Indonesia, Kazakhstan and the Philippines.
Learning what works to create lasting systems change.
As Safe Online approached its tenth anniversary, evaluations across six initiatives and a decade-wide Learning Review captured the lessons emerging from years of investment. These insights are helping strengthen future funding decisions and ensuring successful approaches can be scaled across the global child online safety ecosystem.
As Safe Online approaches its tenth anniversary, it is also preparing for its next chapter. In 2027, Safe Online will become an independent foundation, building on nearly a decade of progress with greater flexibility to grow partnerships, invest in new solutions and respond to emerging threats.
Alongside this transition, Safe Online is expanding its vision through Weave Wellbeing, an initiative to build a new collaborative fund dedicated to promoting the mental health and wellbeing of children and adolescents in the digital age. Building on the foundations of child online safety, Weave Wellbeing reflects a simple belief: protecting children from harm is essential, but creating digital environments where they can thrive is the ultimate goal.
Safe Online acknowledges the generous contributions of governments, foundations and coalitions whose support over the past several years has helped to create a safer digital world for children and young people.
Safe Online owes special thanks to the following:
Finally, we extend our sincere gratitude to UNICEF for hosting Safe Online
Copyright Safe Online 2023 ©
All imagery is taken from the Safe Online and UNICEF image library
We are here to ensure every child and young person grows in to the digital world feeling safe, and is protected from harm.
We support, champion, and invest in innovative partners from the public, private, and third sectors working towards the same objective.
We believe in equipping guardians and young people with the skills to understand and see danger themselves once accessing digital experiences without supervision.
