As part of the series of activities of the "No One" campaign, the Seminar with the theme "The role of online platforms in protecting children and adolescents from cybercrime" was chaired by the Digital Trust Alliance in coordination with the Department of Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention A05 (Ministry of Public Security).
The seminar was attended by UNICEF representatives in Vietnam, Meta Group representatives and A05 representatives.
Speaking at the seminar, Major General Le Xuan Minh - Director of the Department of Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention emphasized the urgency of protecting children in cyberspace, when high-tech criminals with sophisticated tricks are taking advantage of technology to direct "attacks" on children.
Major General Le Xuan Minh cited many research data from reality, tren the global scale, cybercriminals are strongly exploiting online platforms, social networks, messaging applications and anonymous forums to lure, manipulate and exploit children.
The Global Threat Assessment 2023 report by the WeProtect Global Alliance recorded: In many Southeast Asian and African countries, up to 20% of children have been abused or abused online in just one year.
Accordingly, in Vietnam, according to statistics from the Department of Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention, online fraud, manipulation and child abuse tend to increase, with many sophisticated tricks: luring to film sensitive videos for blackmail, impersonating recruitment to trade people or forced labor.
Social networking platforms, closed forums and anonymous groups are becoming places to share and trade content that abuses children.
Major General Le Xuan Minh affirmed that protecting children on social networks in both Vietnam and around the world is an urgent and global task.
The numbers of online kidnappings and assaults increase
According to UNICEF's 2017 data, one in three Internet users are children, of which more than 70% of children aged 12-17 use social media every day.
In Vietnam, a UNICEF survey in 2022 shows that 82% of children aged 12-13 and 93% of children aged 14-15 use the Internet every day. About 95% of children of this age own smartphones and spend an average of 3-4 hours a day on online platforms such as Zalo, Facebook, TikTok or YouTube.
A 2025 study by the University of Georgia (USA) shows that one in 12 children worldwide (about 8%) have been sexually abused or exploited online.
Of these, 12.5% were sexually assaulted, 12.6% were shared sensitive photos or videos without consent, 4.7% were exploited for online sex and 3.5% were victims of sex trafficking (sextortion).
In 2024, Vietnam recorded 381 cases of online sexual assault, mainly stemming from the exploitation of personal information on Facebook and Zalo.
In 2025, cross-border manipulation and abuse cases via TikTok and Instagram will increase by more than 30% compared to 2024, many subjects will also use AI to personalize content to lure and manipulate victims' psychology.
While the cybercriminal force is increasing, applying sophisticated science and technology with many forms of approaching children dangerously and unpredictably - children and adolescents are among the weak group, with the ability to react weakly, even trust, and are easily falling into the trap of cybercriminals.
The "No One" campaign has been making efforts to organize a series of activities to further improve protection skills for children, at the same time, calling for the cooperation of the whole society and community in protecting and creating defensive shields on the "dyke" of social networks.
The seminar "The role of online platforms in protecting children and adolescents from cybercrime" took place to discuss and share experiences, policies and solutions for multilateral cooperation - State, Platform, Community - to protect vulnerable people such as children and adolescents, while improving digital skills and promoting international cooperation, contributing to the realization of the spirit of the Hanoi Convention.
Global cooperation to join hands to protect children
Participating in the morning seminar on October 25 at the National Convention Center, Deputy Representative of UNICEF in Vietnam - Ms. Michaela Bauer shared that the UNICEF organization has accompanied Vietnam on the journey of being together for more than 20 years, witnessing the ups and downs, the rapid changes taking place in modern life, when technology and social networking platforms have become a part of life.
According to UNICEF's Deputy Representative in Vietnam, incidents of child threats and dangers on online platforms are happening more and more. The consequences for children are extremely serious, which can last for the rest of their lives.
Ms. Michaela Bau hopes that social organizations, inter-sectoral authorities, and international organizations such as UNICEF, the United Nations, etc. need to join hands and demonstrate their responsibility to children on the digital platform itself. When cybercriminals consider digital space as a place to attack children - authorities and social organizations need to clearly demonstrate their protective role towards children in digital space.
In addition, UNICEF representatives also highlighted the role of education, from school to family, need to be close, attached and equip children with self-defense skills, beware of sophisticated scams on social networks.
Both girls and boys can be victims of abuse and abuse in the digital space. Education agencies play a great role in equipping students with knowledge. We need to organize both in-person and online activities, combining multi-sector activities to protect children. We need to show children how sophisticated and scary the signs of wrongdoings and scams are... said a UNICEF representative.
Representative of Meta technology group - Mr. Rob Abrams said that the group is also accompanying everyone in the journey to protect children in the digital space. Meta's platform has designed many tools to detect images of children being disseminated for the wrong purpose, fraud warning tools, tools to connect with authorities... and report to law enforcement for signs of fraud and child abuse.
The A05 representative affirmed that digital platforms are an environment for criminals to operate, now they will have to become the "first line of defense" for social organizations to join hands to protect children.
To eliminate cybercrime, it is necessary to create a protective shield right in cyberspace to eliminate this type of crime at its root.
"We need to clean up cyberspace. The whole society needs to join hands. Global cooperation is needed. For the future of Vietnam and the world" - said a representative of A10.
