Tech executives voice concern over protection of children

ANKARA

The Turkish officials of internet giants Google and YouTube have said they share the same parental worries like everyone else and are trying to protect their own children from the dangers of the digital world in a meeting with a parliamentary committee.

According to daily Milliyet, the top executives of the world’s biggest internet search engine and the video-sharing platform visited the Digital Channels Committee of parliament upon an invitation.

The motto of the meeting was “online security” as the executives informed committee members especially on children’s safety.

To depict the volume of the internet use across the globe, the officials highlighted that “half of the world’s population has been going online since 2019, with Generation Z taking the lead.”

“There are malevolent actors in real life and the digital world,” an official added.

Reminding that Google teams are neatly publishing reports on “data security” and “child abuse,” the officials gave three advices to parents: “Manage your child’s mobile accounts, track time of the mobile online and put rules for your child’s access to the digital world.”

Erkan Kaptan, the public policy executive of Google, is careful when his child goes online, too.

“I am a father, too. She is only 6 and we experience her digital experiences all together [in the family],” Kaptan said in the meeting.

“Like taking her to a park and keeping her under watch all the time, I keep an eye on her when she is online, too,” he added.

He advises parents to “use Family Link or Google Kids applications.”

Family Link enables you to learn your child’s digital tendencies like what kind of application he or she uploads the most. “When my daughter wants to download something, a reminder comes to my mobile, asking me if I approve it or not,” Kaptan underlined.

Gönenç Gürkaynak, a lawyer for Google, also underlined the company’s cooperation with Turkish institutions. “The Competition Authority is always on watch. Even after their warnings and fines, the company did not challenge them,” the lawyer said, adding that “Google closed the ‘shopping unit’ in Turkey.”

According to Kaptan, Google has three priorities, “the prevention of sexual assault,” “reduction of harmful and inconvenient content,” and “the protection of privacy.”

The company is also working with the Turkish Education Ministry to produce contents to protect students from the dangers of the internet.

“YouTube was not designed for individuals under the age of 13,” said Kaptan and recommended parents to make their children follow “YouTube Kids.”