Nourish their lives, not their feeds.

Digirauha is a Finnish nonprofit working to protect children and young people from the harms of commercial digital platforms, including algorithmic exploitation, social media design patterns, and unregulated AI.

Founded in autumn 2024, we believe the responsibility for children's safety online must sit with the companies building these products, not with parents and children navigating an increasingly complex digital world alone.

We advocate for legislative change at national and EU level, produce analysis on the digital environment children are growing up in, and work with schools, families, and communities to build shared practices around children's digital lives.

We are not anti-tech. We believe children should be part of the digital world. But that world must be built around their best interests, not around commercial gain.

What we do

Analysis & Advocacy

We monitor technological development from the perspective of children and young people. We produce timely analysis in a rapidly changing environment and advocate for legislative changes for the protection of children and youth at both national and EU level. Our work includes expert testimony at the request of the Finnish Parliament, contributions to EU Commission consultations, and active participation in public debate.

Social Media & Children

We are at the forefront of the movement to make social media safer for children, pushing for enforceable age limits, platform accountability, and an end to manipulative design practices targeting minors. In 2024, we initiated a citizens' initiative to the Finnish Parliament calling for legislation to protect children from the harms of digital platforms.

Artificial Intelligence & Children

Artificial intelligence is not a future threat. It is already reshaping how children learn, socialize, and see themselves. We believe AI will be to this generation what unregulated social media and internet was to the last one: a transformation that happens faster than anyone is prepared for, with consequences that will take years to fully understand. Without serious forecasting, regulation, and accountability now, the damage to children's development, privacy, and mental health will be profound. That is why we actively forecast, analyse and monitor the implications of AI for children's development, privacy, and wellbeing. This is one of the most urgent areas of our work.

Dialogues

We have developed a structured dialogue model that helps early childhood services, schools, community organisations, and families build shared practices around children's digital lives. The model draws on participatory methods and futures thinking to give children and young people an active voice in shaping the norms around their own digital environments.

Our Principles

  • The primary principle of digital platform design must be the best interest and wellbeing of children. Legislators must set minimum product safety standards and enforce them.

  • A child's right to privacy is a fundamental right. They need space to try, fail and grow without their data being collected, stored and shared. Privacy protection reduces the risk of targeted advertising, manipulation and exploitation.

  • Children of different ages need different levels of protection and support. Schools must offer up-to-date and regular digital literacy education, and children's digital lives should be part of ongoing conversations in families, hobbies, communities and legislatures.

  • The challenges of the digital age require a shared response. Parents, schools, companies, communities and lawmakers each have a role to play. No one can do this alone, but everyone can make a difference.

Our work in practice

  • We initiated Finland's first major citizens' initiative calling on Parliament to legislate for children's protection from digital platform harms and to strengthen corporate accountability.

  • We provided expert input on the reform of the Basic Education Act, including the introduction of mobile device restrictions during school hours.

  • We submitted a formal statement on the Commission's guidelines for protecting minors online under Article 28(4) of the Digital Services Act, calling for stronger enforcement, transparency, and accountability mechanisms.

  • Digirauha contributed as part of the 160-strong expert network convened by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) and the Finnish National Agency for Education (OPH) to draft Finland's first national guidelines on digital device use for children aged 0 to 13. The guidelines were published in January 2026 and include a recommendation against personal smartphones for children under 13.

  • We have contributed expert analysis on multiple parliamentary proposals relating to children and digital technology, including device use in foster care and social media age verification.

  • Together with Suojellaan Lapsia ry and psychiatrist Anu Raevuori, we published a memo calling for a fundamental reframing of the policy debate: the focus must be on corporate accountability for deliberately harmful product design, not on restricting children.

Get in touch!

We welcome collaboration, dialogue, and exchange with researchers, organisations, policymakers, and professionals working on children's digital wellbeing and rights, in Finland and internationally.

info@digirauha.fi

Our Partners