The Director of Unicef Portugal defended that prohibiting minors' access to social media is not the solution to resolve the growing number of online sexual abuses. This position was expressed at a time when several countries have been implementing restrictions on minors on social media and when Portugal is also debating this issue.
The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) at the international level published a study warning of the significant increase in online sexual abuse of minors, although the specific data from the report is partially omitted in the article.
The position of Unicef Portugal comes in opposition to the restrictive measures adopted by several countries, which have sought to prohibit or limit children's and adolescents' access to social media platforms as a way to protect them from harmful content and abuses.
The organization defends that, instead of prohibitions, it is necessary to invest in other strategies for protecting minors in the digital environment, suggesting that the restrictive approach does not address the underlying causes of the problem of online sexual abuse.
