Meta Brings Together Policymakers, Parents and Educators at Pakistan’s Digital Tahafuzz Summit

Meta today hosted the Digital Tahafuzz Summit in Islamabad, a day dedicated to youth safety and well-being online, in partnership with the Ministry of IT & Telecom, the Ministry of Human Rights, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the Social Media Protection &.

Key points

• The Digital Tahafuzz Summit builds on Meta's teen safety work with partners in Pakistan.
• Ayesha Raza, Chairperson NCRC shared that Our goal must be to create the digital world safe for children.
• Separate routes run for ages 13 to 17 and for adults.
• A central theme was how to protect young individuals online without cutting them off from what the internet offers them.
• The state must ensure child-friendly reporting mechanisms and swift redressal of complaints and build awareness among children.

Policymakers, educators, parents, civil society representatives and creators spent the day discussing how to offer young residents room to grow up online while keeping them safe as they do. A Whole of Ecosystem Conversation.

Notably, a central theme was how to protect young individuals online without cutting them off from what the internet offers them. Speakers discussed which frameworks would best ensure young individuals can experience the benefits of social media and online platforms, with privacy, age-appropriate design and default safety measures built in from the start, and what a workable, privacy-preserving age-assurance framework could look like for Pakistan. When young residents understand them and feel able to turn to a trusted adult, protections work best, the discussion observed.

During the panel discussion, Ms. Ayesha Raza, Chairperson NCRC shared that Our goal must be to create the digital world safe for children. Bans alone push children toward less regulated, higher-risk spaces and leave them unprepared. What works is a whole-of-ecosystem approach. Platforms must be accountable and build safety into their design, with private-by-default settings, limits on addictive features, and swift removal of abusive content.

Meanwhile, the state must ensure child-friendly reporting mechanisms and swift redressal of complaints and build awareness among children. Parents and teachers must be equipped to guide children with confidence, and we must invest in digital literacy." Mr. Salman Zafar, Member, SMPRA, further continued that "keeping children safe online should not be the child's burden. Protecting children online requires safer platforms, respect for their privacy, responsive reporting mechanisms, and close collaboration between regulators, platforms and parents." While Mr. Shahzad Roy, President Zindagi Trust shared that "Our children are growing up in an increasingly digital world.

It is our responsibility to equip them with the skills to navigate this world safely and ensure their well-being online. Zindagi Trust and Durbeen's partnership with Meta is a step in the right direction. It intends to empower parents and guardians with tools to supervise their children's social media experiences, stay informed concerning their online activity, and take appropriate action to support keep them safe.

In practice, the Summit additionally took up the case for a national effort on digital safety education, with backing from industry, and what it would take for Pakistan to lead the region on evidence-based youth-safety policy. Digital Dialogues in Real Life launches in Pakistan.

At the Summit, Meta additionally rolled out Digital Dialogues in Real Life, a free, browser-based experience that helps teens, parents, educators and community groups talk through everyday online situations together.

Meanwhile, the experience was shaped by research and testing with young individuals and educators, and is designed to familiarise parents and teens with the safety features already built into Teen Accounts. Teen Accounts place teens in an experience with protections switched on from the start, limiting who can contact them, the content they see and whether their time is well spent, so parents do not have to set any of it up. Content settings introduced earlier this year are guided by 13+ film ratings and parent feedback, so teens see content similar to what they would see in an age-appropriate film, and those under 16 need a parent's permission to create those settings less strict.

Participants work through five illustrated cards – Social Spaces, Feed Control, Beyond Likes, Kindness Online and Know Your Limits – each setting out a recognisable moment online, inviting a response, and pointing to the settings and tools that can support. Separate routes run for ages 13 to 17 and for adults.

"Keeping teens safe online is a responsibility we share with parents, educators, governments and civil society. We build for parents' peace of mind, with Teen Accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger – putting protections in place by default. Alongside these protections, the conversations teens have with the adults in their lives matter just as much. That is why we built Digital Dialogues in Real Life, to support parents and teens talk more openly concerning life online, " noted Yuen Ting Chay, Director of Public Policy, South and Central Asia, Meta.

"Pakistan cannot build a truly digital future unless it is a safe one for its children. Protecting young individuals online cannot rest on parents navigating complex settings alone. Safety must be built into technology, reinforced through digital literacy and upheld through collective responsibility. Today's Summit demonstrates what that looks like in practice, with administration, industry, educators and families at the same table. Our commitment is clear: a digital Pakistan where no child is left to face the risks of the online world alone, " remarked Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication.

The protection of human dignity and fundamental rights must extend to the digital world. As technology continues to transform our lives, we must ensure that online spaces remain safe, inclusive and empowering, particularly for women and children. The Administration of Pakistan, under the leadership of Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, remains committed to strengthening digital safety and protecting citizens from online harm.

Meanwhile, the right to safety, privacy and dignity must be protected equally in both physical and digital spaces. Safeguarding our younger generation requires collective efforts from administration, technology platforms, educators, parents and civil society. We must equip our youth not only with digital skills, but additionally with the awareness, confidence and responsibility to produce informed choices, respect others and stand against online harassment and abuse.

Our collective responsibility is to ensure that technological progress strengthens fundamental rights rather than exposing individuals to new forms of vulnerability. Together, we must build a digital future where innovation creates opportunities, technology promotes safety and human dignity remains paramount, remarked Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar, Federal Minister of Human Rights.

"Protecting children online is a shared responsibility. Alongside effective safeguards, we must equip children with the knowledge to navigate the digital world safely and empower parents to guide them. Through our partnership in Digital Dialogues in Real Life, PTA remains committed to promoting digital awareness and creating a safer online environment for Pakistan's children, " remarked Chairman PTA, Major General (R) Hafeez Ur Rehman HI (M), SI.

Notably, the Digital Tahafuzz Summit builds on Meta's teen safety work with partners in Pakistan. Meta will continue working with policymakers and partners on how protections of this kind can become an industry-wide standard. Stay Connected with ProPakistani.

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Taken together, the developments around meta Brings Together Policymakers, Parents and Educators at Pakistan's Digital Tahafuzz Summit point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.