Principle 11: agency

Having agency means children can decide freely how they want to engage with the digital environment. This includes being able to start and stop using digital products and services of their choice easily, without feeling they are losing out, and knowing and getting precisely what they have signed up for, while not being tempted, manipulated or nudged into doing anything that undermines their safety, privacy, development and wellbeing. The principle of agency draws together two sets of children’s rights:1 • Protection against economic exploitation: the right not to be subjected to unfair exchange. • Protection against other forms of exploitation: the right not to be subjected to treatment that undermines children’s decision making and welfare. Economic (or commercial) exploitation in the digital environment extends beyond the traditional notion of economic exploitation centred on child labour, and manifests in various forms. It includes persuasive design to maximise children’s attention and monetisation of personal data as well as dark patterns and other features crafted to manipulate users’ choices. It also includes processing data for commercial purposes such as advertising without considering children’s vulnerabilities or profiting from children’s data unfairly.