The Child Online Protection Manager at Ghana’s Cyber Security Authority (CSA), Martin Agyei Aboagye, has called for a national policy to restrict children below the age of 13 from accessing social media.
According to him, the growing exposure of children to inappropriate online content and increasing cases of cyberbullying, cyber grooming and sextortion make it necessary for Ghana to take stronger measures to protect minors on the internet.
Speaking in an interview with GhanaWeb on October 23, 2026, during the Child Online Protection Digital Parenting Forum, Aboagye said the country needed to urgently consider age restrictions on social media platforms.
“I think it’s a matter of policy, and personally, if you ask me, I think we should take this thing seriously and make sure kids below this threshold don’t have access to social media,” he stated.
He added that the issue required urgent national discussion, particularly as children much younger than 13 were already operating their own social media accounts.
“In our work, we meet a lot of kids way below 13, 8, 9, 10, have social media accounts, their own accounts, and the kind of content they share there is something that even older people like us won’t even dare to share,” he said.
Aboagye also urged parents and guardians to adopt digital parenting practices to protect their children from online threats.
He explained that parental controls involve measures parents can implement to monitor their children's online activities, identify potential dangers and respond appropriately when problems arise.
“Parental control is basically steps that, as a parent, you can put in place to make sure you see what your child is doing online and then you provide the appropriate responses to the challenges the child is facing,” he explained.
He cited situations where children may share inappropriate content with others, stressing the need for parents to identify such incidents and know the appropriate steps to take.
According to him, the initiative was also intended to help parents who may not be technologically knowledgeable understand how to protect their children online.
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He noted that parents who struggle to configure parental controls on their children's devices could seek assistance from people with the necessary technical knowledge.
"We are seeing increasing numbers of cyberbullying, cyber grooming, and then sextortion, so that was the reason why we thought it was important to put this together.
“Again, the intent is to make sure parents who are not tech-savvy will have an idea of what's going on, so that even if they may not be able to set up the controls on the devices, they can get someone tech-savvy enough to educate them on setting their controls and make sure their children are protected whilst using the internet,” he stated.
Aboagye disclosed that the CSA was working with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other stakeholders to strengthen measures against online child abuse.
He said a meeting held earlier in 2026 at the Volta Serene Hotel in the Volta Region focused on developing guidelines to encourage telecommunications companies and other service providers to provide appropriate content and support efforts to remove material involving the abuse of children online.
“We are doing a lot in that space, together with UNICEF. Earlier this year we had a meeting at the Volta Serene Hotel in the Volta Region, where we are developing guidelines to make sure the telcos and all service providers are making sure they are providing appropriate content and, again, help us take down content that has to do with the abuse of children online,” he shared.
He further stressed the importance of incorporating safety-by-design principles into digital applications and emerging technologies to ensure that children's safety is considered from the development stage.
“We are making sure that we incorporate safety by design into every app and every form of tech that is coming out to make sure that children are safe while using the internet,” he said.
The CSA official noted that discussions on age restrictions had already emerged at the government level, following concerns raised earlier by the Minister for Communications.
He maintained that implementing such restrictions would depend largely on national policy decisions and the willingness of political leaders to address the problem.
Aboagye expressed confidence that a policy framework could be developed if authorities acknowledged the dangers children face online and committed to addressing them.
He called for the conversation to begin as soon as possible, arguing that stronger age restrictions, combined with parental supervision and cooperation from technology companies, could help reduce children's exposure to harmful online experiences.
“I think we should take this thing seriously and make sure kids below this threshold don't have access to social media. I think it's a conversation that has to be had as soon as possible,” he added.
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