Experts urge parents to keep children under 13 off social media

Experts urged parents to keep children under 13 off social media, calling for stronger safeguards and shared accountability to reduce online risks. Speaking at the Trust Summit in Nairobi, they said greater parental vigilance must be paired with safer platform design and clearer responsibilities for technology companies. The discussion also warned that artificial intelligence, social media algorithms and digitally manipulated content are reshaping how people find information and judge credibility. Kenya’s Special Envoy on Technology, Philip Thigo, said technology now plays an everyday role in news consumption. Mercy Ndegwa of Meta highlighted the impact of platform curation. Google’s Charles Murito stressed the need for platforms to vet and clearly label what is real as AI content grows harder to distinguish. Katherine Getao warned governance has trouble keeping pace and called for stronger regulation and digital literacy.