Are our children adequately protected in cyberspace? In a time when children spend most of their time in a virtual world parallel to the real world, answering this question has become an urgent necessity. Modern technology and the associated revolution in the world of communication, like any human innovation, have their positive and negative aspects. On the positive side, many materials and websites available on the Internet provide real opportunities for children to learn and build an effective personality. Some gaming sites also give them the opportunity to entertain themselves during their free time. Moreover, social media platforms provide children with the opportunity to communicate and build relationships with peers. However, not all these positive aspects prevent the presence of great dangers facing our children when they navigate in cyberspace. Due to the age and personality characteristics of children, they may be more vulnerable to cyber threats than adults may be. Hence, it has become necessary to answer the previous question by providing the necessary protection for children in the virtual world to maximize opportunities to benefit from modern technology and reduce potential negative effects.

While recognizing the difficulty of imposing restrictions to control this massive virtual space, there is an urgent need to establish regulatory frameworks that govern the movement of children and those who interact with them in the virtual world. It is worth noting that the responsibility to protect children in cyberspace does not fall on one party in society. In other words, governmental and non-governmental parties play complementary roles in developing and enforcing mechanisms for regulating cyberspace. The government alone cannot carry out this task, as it requires the combined efforts of non-governmental actors in society, such as civil society institutions, the private sector, as well as the family, schools, and religious institutions. From this perspective, this paper attempts to answer a major question: How do we ensure the security of our children in cyberspace? Answering this question first requires clarifying the logic behind the necessity of regulating cyberspace, as well as the factors that make children a social group with different regulatory requirements and thus needing better care in this regard. Answering this question also requires determining the nature of the risks to which children are exposed in cyberspace. The paper also addresses the rights and duties that children enjoy in cyberspace in accordance with local and international conventions and norms. The paper paid particular attention to the efforts of the State of Qatar in the field of establishing institutional and legislative frameworks to regulate cyberspace in a way that ensures the safety of children

Cyberspace can be defined as that imaginary space located in the networked space that is intangible and completely simulates reality. It denotes the interconnected digital environment where computer systems, networks, and information exist. It is a conceptual space that is not bound by physical geography but is created by the interconnection of computers and digital devices across the globe. In cyberspace, data is transmitted, stored, and processed through a complex network of interconnected systems (Steiger et al., 2018). As such, Cyberspace can be perceived as a virtual digital field whose features extend to the physical lives of humans. In other words, Cyberspace provides a massive information platform that can be accessed through any device connected to a stream of digital data linked to the Internet. To regulate Cyberspace is to develop and enforce the laws and policies that govern online behaviour and protect children's safety online (Badran, 2011, 2021). The basic rationale for having these regulatory rules is that Cyberspace is a vast and unregulated space, and children are particularly vulnerable to online predators, cyberbullying, and other forms of harm. A child is defined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as every human being below the age of eighteen years. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, which identified the child as “every human being below the age of eighteen years”. Consequently, Qatari legislators have identified the child as follows: “Whoever did not complete the age of 18 calendar years shall be considered as a child” (Article 7, Law 14; Combating Cybercrime).

Hence, from a legal perspective, a child is a human being who possesses mental, spiritual, emotional, physical and sensory capabilities. From this angle, children have different regulatory needs in cyberspace compared to adults. They have unique vulnerabilities and developmental considerations associated with their age. Children may also lack the cognitive and emotional maturity to fully comprehend and navigate the potential risks present in cyberspace. Children often have limited decision-making capacity, and they may not fully understand the consequences of their online actions. Children may be more prone to sharing personal information, engaging in risky behaviour, or falling victim to scams. The cognitive and emotional development of children varies significantly across different age groups. Therefore, children require specific regulatory attention in cyberspace (Livingstone & Bulger, 2014).

Perhaps vulnerability and immaturity are among the most distinguishing features of children compared to older age groups who use digital technologies. These two characteristics in particular make children an easy target for technology companies and developers of software and smart applications. Some studies indicate that many companies intentionally or unintentionally target children with their products in the field of digital technology. In this regard, technology companies have distinguished specific developmental traits in youngsters, such as their impulsivity, immaturity, impressionability, naiveté, and vulnerability to peer pressure. These characteristics can be deliberately altered to increase kids' "stickiness" and "engagement" with digital goods and services. This matter became clear through empirical studies that confirmed that children aged 8 years and over in the United States of America spend between 4-9 hours in front of screens every day. The issue here is not only related to the time these children spend in front of digital device screens, but it is also related to the nature of the content they view and interact with. In this regard, some scholars have noted that the content consumed by children in cyberspace is not limited only to content directed to children, but also extends to content provided to adults, which poses great dangers to these children [14].

The child’s relationship with cyberspace is an organic relationship, as he/she is linked to the information society, which allows him to enter a digital world by accessing an unprecedented level of services and information through a computer or mobile phone with Internet access. With the reduction of barriers related to costs and technology, it has become possible for children to explore new fields of knowledge and get to know new people. In other words, the child has become a true “digital citizen” in cyberspace, enjoying the right to knowledge and access to information, but within a safe regulatory framework governed by law and legislation [28].

Digital technologies in all their forms and types have become an integral part of our children's daily lives. Throughout the day, children use many digital devices for a variety of purposes, some of which are entertainment, some related to the educational process, and some related to their interaction with peers in the surrounding community. In addition to the advantages that children can obtain from interacting with such digital technologies, the absence of an appropriate regulatory framework may expose these children to multiple risks that are equal to, if not greater than, the benefits that can be gained. From there, this paper focuses on how to protect children as a group of society with their own distinct characteristics and needs in cyberspace. Many studies have concluded that this category of society needs special attention when it comes to establishing regulatory and legal frameworks for their dealings with modern digital technologies. At a time when protecting adult users of digital technologies is a priority for policymakers and legislators there is an urgent need to take into account the distinctive characteristics of children and the possible consequences of their exposure to the dangers of the virtual world.

Identifying Risks Facing Children in Cyberspace

Before addressing the risks that children are facing in cyberspace, it might be helpful to provide a definition of cybercrime as the majority -if not all- of these online threats can be regarded as potential cybercrimes [13]. The Qatari legislator defined cybercrime as “any act that involves illegal use of information technology means, information system or information network in breach of the provisions of law” [5]. Some of those cybercrimes have been stated in the law as examples and not as an exhausted list. Among the listed cybercrime, child pornography, cyberbullying and identity theft are of prim importance. Talking in detail about the threats and risks facing children in cyberspace goes beyond the limits of this paper. Due to the multiplicity of applications and electronic media that can be connected to the Internet, children are exposed to many types of risks. It should also be noted that the risks to which children are exposed in cyberspace are not limited only to those associated with applications and social networking sites. In other words, children as a societal group may become a target for technology companies to maximize their profits, taking advantage of the impulsiveness and inability to properly assess consequences, as well as the desire to keep up with peers and even outperform them. Given the wide range of risks resulting from all these sources, this part of the paper will be limited to giving some examples of the types of risks that children may be exposed to, whether on social networking sites or through the marketing strategies of technology and gaming companies.

The absence of an appropriate regulatory framework to control the movement and activities of digital technology companies to prevent the risks that the products and services of these companies may pose to children would open the door wide to various forms of exploitation of this vulnerable group of society. Given the expansion of the activities and products of technology companies to include many fields, it will be difficult within the framework of this paper to cover them all. Then, focus will be placed on some areas that require intervention by establishing an appropriate regulatory framework. One of the most prominent areas in which the impact of digital products and services on children is evident is related to the gaming industry. This vital industry, which is worth billions of dollars, and the various toys it produces, have both positive and negative effects on children. Some social games are designed to develop some aspects of skills or those related to personality traits, which have a positive impact on the development of the child’s personality and improve his educational and social skills. At the same time, due to children's impulsive personality and lack of accurate assessment of consequences, some digital technology companies exploit these personal characteristics for profit purposes by designing their products and services in a way that attracts children and motivates them to buy those products.

In this regard, some research has observed that many companies operating in the gaming industry direct a large portion of their budget to study the behavioral and psychological characteristics of children that make their products more attractive [6,20]. There is also a tendency among those companies to design their games in an addictive way, which drives these children to behave irresponsibly. For instance, recent studies have demonstrated that gambling and addiction-like behavior can be exhibited by children playing certain games. This is due to the impact of the games they play on their brains, as they activate the same areas of the brain that gambling and addiction disorders activate. In the long run, children's addiction to these games may have many negative effects on their behavior and personality. These games may also push them toward many behavioral disorders and actions that society rejects.

Many games are also designed based on the results of behavioral research conducted on children in a way that prompts young people to make impulsive decisions related to spending. Some games, for example, ask the child to pay to advance to the next level of the game. Some companies also take into account the design of games in a way that prompts the child to buy some items in order to continue playing or to make profits. The impact of these promotional strategies, most of which are not subject to a clear and specific regulatory framework, is significant for children. This effect clearly increases in-group interactive games wherein the child competes with other peers. The psychological factor is exploited here, and the child’s desire to achieve superiority over other players is pushed to buy some items that will enable him to achieve this goal.

Added to the abovementioned online gamification risks, children can be targeted when using different types of social media platforms. The risks that children are exposed to include, but are not limited to, online predators, cyberbullying, exposure to inappropriate content, identity theft, phishing, and scams. These risks can affect various aspects of their well-being, including physical safety, mental health, and privacy. Cyberpredators prey on vulnerable children with the goal of using them for their own evil purposes by employing cunning strategies [3, 7]. Furthermore, children's mental and emotional health is at risk due to the availability of improper content, which exposes them to graphic material and dangerous concepts. As reported by GuardChild (2023), 70% of children aged 7 to 18 have accidentally encountered online pornography, often through a web search while doing homework. Additionally, the internet statistics show that law enforcement officials estimate that more than 50,000 sexual predators are online at any given moment. Hence, cybergrooming remains a significant global issue these days, and numerous reports indicate that it is imperative to address this issue in order to shield youngsters from being sexually exploited [7].

Children are increasingly being subjected to threats, humiliation, and harassment via social media and online messaging services, a practice known as cyberbullying [18]. In general sense, Bullying can be defined as the deliberate and persistent acts of hostility committed by an individual or a group of individuals against a person who lacks the ability to protect themselves [19]. Accordingly, cyberbullying can be perceived as "an aggressive, intentional act carried out by a group or individual using electronic forms of contact, repeatedly or over time against a victim that cannot easily defend him or herself." [13]. Cyber- bullying incident involve almost 65% of 8-14 year olds children with 12% of tweens have already been bullied by someone online. This issue is becoming more alarming when one knows that parents in most of the cases have no knowledge of their children being bullied by others online. For instance, the available statistics demonstrate that the likelihood that their children may engage in cyberbullying because of their social networking practices is known only to 15% of parents [9].

Cybercriminals can easily gain and misuse children's personal information, which raises concerns about identity theft. Minor children are 35 times more likely than adults to suffer identity theft are [12]. In this context, identity theft can be seen as the act of a hacker or stranger impersonating the legitimate user [11]. In order to gain more access to the victim's contacts' profiles, the hacker attempts to take over the targeted victim's profile. By doing this, the hacker affects the real users when they activate their accounts by using the compromised profile in harmful ways. Thieves are drawn to child identity theft because it presents a blank slate that is unlikely to be observed for some time. These thefts of children's identities online cause many problems for those who fall victim to hackers. The new identity enables the electronic criminal to carry out financial transactions and fraud in the name of the child whose identity was stolen. These criminal acts will affect the future of those whose identities are stolen. Therefore, children must be careful when dealing with any request to provide their personal account information to any party. Parents must also monitor their children’s personal information to ensure that it does not reach unwanted parties who may exploit it in criminal acts [12].

The above-mentioned dangers to which our children are exposed in cyberspace are only the tip of the iceberg of the risks facing them in this virtual world. Due to the multiplicity of platforms and virtual worlds that children navigate, it is very difficult to closely follow what they are doing. Therefore, empowering children by making them aware of their rights and duties in cyberspace may be the first step to protecting them and the first line of defence against cybercriminals [19, 21].

Children in Cyberspace: Rights and Obligations

Providing protection for children in cyberspace requires developing a governance system that includes three levels: international, regional and local. At the international level, there are many agreements that aim to protect children in cyberspace to prevent their exploitation or exposure to content that is not appropriate for their age. In this context, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has clearly stated “the child shall have the right to freedom of expression” (Article 13- 1). Consequently, a child has the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child's choice. It is worth noting here that the Convention does not consider the child’s right to exchange information as merely an abstract process through which the child obtains information or sends it to another party. In Article 29, the Convention went beyond this mechanical exchange of information to emphasize the psychological and social impact that this exchange process may have on the child. Given the great responsibility for protecting children, the Convention, in Article 17, assigned this role to government agencies and specified clear responsibilities for them as follows:

• To encourage the mass media to disseminate information and material of social and cultural benefit to the child and in accordance with the spirit of article 29;
• To encourage international co-operation in the production, exchange and dissemination of such information and material from a diversity of cultural, national and international sources;
• To encourage the production and dissemination of children's books;
• To encourage the mass media to have particular regard to the linguistic needs of the child who belongs to a minority group or who is indigenous;
• To encourage the development of appropriate guidelines for the protection of the child from information and material injurious to his or her well-being, bearing in mind the provisions of articles 13 and 18.

These commitments came in confirmation of what was stipulated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966 regarding the necessity of providing protection for children as a right obligated to the state, the family and society.

Children, like other adults, enjoy a set of rights in cyberspace [15]. They have certain duties and responsibilities that they must adhere to under the rule of law. At the level of rights, international covenants and conventions, in addition to local laws and legislation in many countries, stipulate the child’s right to access information and his right to knowledge in a way that develops his/her personality as well as behavioural and social skills. With the increasing presence of children in cyberspace, and with the difficulty of distinguishing between good and harmful content for them, there has become an urgent necessity for all social bodies concerned with protecting children in cyberspace, to play a role in filtering this content and preventing the access of harmful content [23].

In addition to the right to knowledge and access to information, children also have the right to create their own content or innovations in cyberspace. These creative products are subject to protection through international and local agreements regulating intellectual property rights. In addition, the content that children produce on the Internet must be subject to family supervision as well as oversight by the regulatory authorities in the country to ensure its suitability and to determine the extent of its validity and compatibility with the customs and traditions of society. One of the things that necessitates oversight in this regard is the need to ensure that the creative content and innovations that children develop do not expose them to danger through invasion of privacy by users of this content [25, 26, 28]. At the level of individual rights, children also enjoy the right to freedom of expression, but within the framework of the norms approved by society and regulated by the laws and legislation of each country.

One of the rights that children have in cyberspace is the right to privacy. Despite the emphasis of many international conventions on the right of individuals to privacy including those of children, it can be noted that many modern technologies may violate the privacy of individuals [10, 24]. Although protecting privacy is a necessary requirement for adults and children, this matter gains great importance in the case of children. In other words, children in the cyberspace can be exposed to many forms of privacy violations without knowing it. For example, the law criminalizes taking photos and sharing them online without permission from their owner [4]. Despite these legal restrictions, hackers can access children's social media accounts through various hacking techniques, upload their photos, and sometimes exploit them in illegal ways [25, 29]. Cameras linked to smart devices can also be operated remotely to spy on children without their knowledge. Microphones can also be used to hear their conversations. These practices are a flagrant violation of children's right to privacy and their right to protect their personal information and data.

The right to privacy also extends to all correspondence related to children on the Internet or other means of communication. In this regard, international agreements guarantee children the right to protect the confidentiality of their personal correspondence in a way that does not expose children to any arbitrary or unlawful interference. In addition, any illegal attacks on children in this regard are criminalized by law [8, 10]. With the expansion of many governments and companies' use of databases, user data has become a target for hackers. Recently, we have witnessed many hacking incidents in which user data was attacked and obtained and later used in theft or blackmail operations, or at the very least sold to a third party without the user’s consent. The danger of these attacks increases in the case of children's information. For this reason, local legislation, including Qatari legislation, is concerned with protecting children’s information and includes it within the category of critical information.

In terms of obligations and responsibilities, while in cyberspace the children are required to adhere to the norms, laws and regulations of the society. The fact that they are children does not prevent them from committing some acts punishable by law. For example, if a child commits any action that would violate the privacy of another user and unauthorized accesses this person’s data and information by hacking his email, for example, this is considered a violation of the law and the child is subject to punishment. This is also the case when a child produces content that violates the law, such as pornographic materials, and circulates this content over the Internet. In addition to adhering to the law in the virtual world, children must also abide by the customs, traditions and culture of society. Any violation of these customs and traditions by using cyberspace to spread ideas that contradict these customs and traditions makes the child the subject of attack by members of society, which exposes him to psychological pressures that may affect him in the future. Cyberspace legal violations by children are dealt with based on the age of the violator and the circumstances of the case at hand [5].

Regulating the Cyberspace: the Qatari Case

The State of Qatar is one of the richest countries in the Arab world, characterized by rapid economic growth, which has led to openness in the world of information and communications technology in a prosperous and innovative manner. It is worth noting that technological development today has become an integral part of the daily lives of the Qatari people, especially children and young people. From this standpoint, the State of Qatar has been interested in cyber security and information security. In order to organize the discussion in this section, a distinction will be made between legislative and institutional efforts by the State of Qatar to regulate cyberspace and create safe environment for children in the virtual world.

At the legislative level, despite the absence of a unified regulatory framework for child protection in cyberspace, the Qatari Government was keen on developing and enforcing several legislations, which may lead eventually to the establishment of such a framework. In 2014, the Qatari government issued Law No. (14) Promulgating the Cybercrime Prevention Law. In addition to the general provisions regulating cybercrime, the legislator has paid a special attention to the issue of child pornography in article 7. Accordingly, Anyone who uses information technology to create child pornography or imports, sells, puts up for sale, offers for use, circulates, transfers, disseminates, publishes, makes available, or transmits such content faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum fine of QR500,000. Additionally, anyone found in possession of anything that includes child pornography faces a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a maximum fine of two hundred fifty thousand rupees, or both of these punishments. The penalties outlined in this article will be applied regardless of the child's agreement. The Law was also clear about the age of a child, as it has considered every individual under the age of eighteen is considered a child for the purposes of this article (Ministry of Transport and Communications, 2014).

Another important legislation regarding cyberspace regulation is Law No. 13 Concerning Personal Data Privacy Protection Law enacted in 2016. Children’s data protection has been addresses in several provisions including articles 16, 17, and 27. According to Article (16), the following categories of personal information will be considered special categories: ethnic origin, children, health, physical or psychiatric conditions, religious beliefs, marital status, and criminal history. In addition to the obligations outlined above, the owner or operator of any website that targets minors must consider the following (Article 17):

• Putting up a notice on the website explaining what constitutes child data, how it is used, and the guidelines adhered to when disclosing
• Getting the guardian of the child whose personal data is processed to explicitly consent, either online or by any other suitable
• Giving a child's guardian access to a copy of the data processed or gathered about the child, coupled with a description of the type of personal data handled and the purpose of the process, upon request and after the guardian's identity has been verified.
• If the child's guardian requests it, deleting, erasing, or stopping the processing of any personal data collected from or about the
• A child's ability to play a game, receive a promotional item, or engage in any other activity cannot be conditioned on them disclosing more personal information than is

The Law has also emphasised the importance of collaboration among concerned institutions to enforce the stated provisions. In this regard, Article (27) has underlined the necessity of working with organizations and societies interested in family affairs to enhance the safety of children on the internet (Ministry of Transport and Communications, 2016).

In addition to the aforementioned legislations, the State of Qatar's National Cybersecurity Strategy has been issued in 2014. The main objectives of the strategy have been identified as follows (ictQATAR, 2014):

• Raising community awareness and educate them about the significance of cybersecurity and its role in combating and eradicating
• Providing the required safeguards for the nation's information infrastructure helps to maintain a certain level of security and stability while shielding the government from cyberattacks and other
• Developing mechanisms for social engagement and cooperation among citizens in order to prevent infringement on others' rights, protect state secrets, and recognise the risks associated with computer
• Obtaining full information security for the Qatari environment by means of specific and fitting cybersecurity laws and regulations.

Under objective four “Foster a culture of cyber security that promotes the safe and appropriate use of cyberspace”, an initiative was adopted to Enhance cyber security awareness across society using multiple channels. A special attention has been given under this initiative to establish and maintain national cyber security awareness across different demographic groups, such as young children, students, parents, older adults, government employees, small and medium-sized enterprises, chief executive officers, and others (ictQATAR, 2014).

At the institutional level and due to the increased use of modern technology, the Qatari Government has established National Committee for Information Security (NIC) to achieve the national Qatari strategy for cybersecurity, and protect information security throughout the State of Qatar. The aim is to establish a “safer online environment by raising awareness about Internet safety issues and improving online safety education,”. The Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology (ictQATAR) supported the development of the NCIS. The membership of the NIC include representatives from the following organisations: ictQATAR, Q- CERT; the Ministry of Awqaf; the Ministry of Interior; the Ministry of Justice; the Supreme Council for Family Affairs; Family Consulting Centre; the Supreme Education Council; Qtel; Vodafone Qatar; the Peninsula; Doha International Institute for Family Studies and Development; Qatar Foundation for Combating Human Trafficking; Qatar Foundation for Child and Women Protection; Social Rehabilitation Centre; Carnegie Mellon University-Qatar and Qatar University. By combining officials, prominent businesses, police enforcement, academics, non-governmental organisations, parents, and young people in the community the NCIS employ a multi-stakeholder approach to create a safer online environment. The focus is on empowering people to become digitally literate so they can use the Internet to make the best decisions for themselves and their families (Gulf Times, 2012 https://www.gulf-times.com/story/32591/national-committee-for- internet-safety-launched). The mandate of the NCIS includes the following goals:

• To commission research around Internet
• To offer support to organisations and
• To identify specific solutions to a range of Internet safety

To fulfil this mandate, the NCIS has formed three sub-committees. Building awareness among children and parents is the primary goal of the first committee, which concentrates on family concerns. The second committee addresses content management with an emphasis on the ways in which the content sector can promote online safety. In the third committee, Internet safety is treated from a legal standpoint. That entails checking for content that is prohibited by law right now and rigorously analysing whether any illicit Internet uses, such pornography, religious defamation, and human trafficking. In this regard, the committee may provide advice and suggestions on possible laws or regulations that could be implemented to improve cyber safety in the nation. Additionally, the legal subcommittee is responsible for organising and carrying out workshops and training sessions on Internet crimes for the different parties concerned and for raising knowledge of the laws related to these crimes in the pertinent spheres of Qatari society.

The National Cyber Security Agency works on implementing awareness programs targeting parents, teachers, and school students to raise their awareness of digital safety and protection against internet dangers. The National Agency for Cybersecurity in the State of Qatar is working to empower local communities through the development of digitally safe and technologically empowered spaces. As a result, in addition to the rapid advancements in technology, technology is permeating all spheres of life, including the lives of people of all ages, increasing the risks associated with technology for individuals in general and children in particular. Therefore, in order to address children and adolescents within the context of the school environment, and in accordance with the general objectives of the National Agency for Cyber security, curricula that improve awareness of digital safety as well as the concepts and foundations of cyber security must be implemented. In this context, The "Educational Cyber security Curricula" project aims to teach kids about the several bases of cyber security and digital safety. It is predicated on the need to inform the public about cyber security and the need of safeguarding personal data and information. The goal of this project, which is the first of its kind in the region, is to increase digital awareness among students of all ages, including those in parallel education, literacy programmes, university students, parents, and educators from first grade through twelfth grade in high school. Additionally, it offers continuously updated interactive awareness information that is accessible via the learning management system. The "Educational Cyber security Curricula" project is a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Education and Higher Education. Its primary goal is to educate the public, especially children and adolescents, about the concept of Digital Citizenship. This involves using information and communication technology in a responsible, moral, and safe manner as a member of both the local and global community. Apart from teaching the children and teenagers about the dangers of the Internet, they are also being taught the fundamentals of information security and electronics safety (https://awareness.ncsa.gov.qa/en/Cybersecuritycurriculaeducation/).

Added to this, the Qatar National Child Protection Helpline was established to provide support and assistance to children who face online abuse, bullying, or harassment. The hotline 919 provides free confidential social, psychological and legal consultations for women and children. The services also extend to provide support to protect and rehabilitate children and women who are victims of violence and family breakdown. As reported by Child Helpline International “Every year, child helplines around the world field more than 13 million individual calls, and provide counselling services to almost 3 million children and young people” (https://childhelplineinternational.org/about/). In order to provide courses for educators in both Arabic and English, ictQATAR continues to collaborate with the Supreme Education Council (SEC) and private schools in Qatar through Qatar Computer Emergency Response Team (Q- CERT). The courses assist teachers in creating age-appropriate presentations of security issues to kids, all in the name of raising security awareness. In order to safeguard kids online, educators must also learn how to collaborate with families (https://qcert.ncsa.gov.qa/about-q-cert).

The Government maintains Safe Space, a website dedicated to inform children, parents and educators about online threats, best practices, policies and tools for Cyber-safety. In essence, the Safe Space platform serves youth, parents, kids, teachers, and the general public. It offers instructional games and suggestions, current information on cyberbullying, and a wealth of materials on cyber safety and security to support educators and parents in shielding kids from online dangers. The site also provides two distinct educational programmes, HASEEN and the Digital Literacy Curriculum. Each programme offers in-depth classes in both Arabic and English along with an abundance of online resources to offer top-notch instruction for organisations, educational institutions, and households.in that sense, the platform seeks to raise awareness of issues pertaining to Qatar and the Arab World while highlighting and affirming a culture of cyber safety and security. Access to content that adheres to the three principles of empowerment, protection, and prevention will be available to educators, students, parents, youth, and the general public. Users are empowered in this way to have a safer online experience. Within the Digital Society Department of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, the platform is the online home for projects falling under the cyber safety programme. The initiative, which aims to promote ethical responsibility in the digital world, includes cyber safety seminars like Akhalqi Qatar, cyber safety ambassador programmes, cyber safety digital libraries, and social media campaigns to raise awareness of cyber safety. Numerous top authorities in Qatar and the Arab world in the domains of cyber safety, awareness, and education developed the content for the site. This was an attempt to provide the community as a whole with high-quality, aesthetically pleasing, and functional content. To ensure that such a significant area could be found in Arabic, the ministry took extra effort to offer the content in that language in a distinctive way (https://www.safespace.qa/en/who-we-are).

The digital landscape is an integral part of children's lives, offering both opportunities and risks. For both adults and children, the Internet has a wealth of materials that can be used to improve academic achievement, broaden learning, learn about different cultures, and keep up a global network of contacts. The discussion in this paper has demonstrated that children who use the Internet wisely succeed academically and, eventually, professionally. Despite all the potential that the Internet offers kids to succeed both academically and personally, there are plenty of risks associated with using it. Adversaries can converse with kids by posing as someone else. Email inboxes may receive unsolicited emails, or spam, referring to websites that contain sexually explicit content. Requests for personal data for surveys or contests may be exploited improperly.

Cyberbullying, which is defined as sending youngsters intimidating, frightening, or threatening texts or emails, appears to be on the rise. Furthermore, there is a wealth of comprehensive information on extreme, vulgar, racist, and violent acts on a plethora of easily accessible websites and chat rooms. In this context, keeping children safe online can be regarded as a collective as well as an individual duty. The safety of young people is a responsibility shared by parents, teachers, friends, and relatives.

A collaborative regulatory approach involving government, parents, and society is crucial for effective regulation of cyberspace for children. At the Governmental level, laws that set a baseline for online safety standards, ensuring that platforms prioritize child protection have to be fully enacted and enforced. Additionally, regulations on data privacy, age-appropriate content, and online behaviour play a key role in providing safe digital environment for children. Parents also play a crucial role in guiding and educating their children about responsible online behaviour. They can implement parental controls to monitor their children's online activities. Parental control programmes enable adults to monitor children's internet activities by recording site names or material screenshots for later review, as well as to prohibit access to improper content or photographs. Parents can also prohibit access to specific chat groups or all of them and establish varying levels of restriction for each member of the family using these tools (www.ictQATAR.qa). Parents should also foster open communication to address any concerns and spend time with their children online to understand their interests and the people they communicate with in addition to the websites they visit. At a societal level, a collective societal awareness and responsibility can help in creating a culture that values the protection of children online. Educators, community leaders, and organizations should be working together to promote digital literacy and responsible use of technology.

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