Information security of minors: international acts and comparative legal analysis of criminal legislation of foreign countries

Abstract

The article examines the formation of a multi-level system of international legal and national protection of minors from information threats in the digital environment. The relevance of the study is by the fact that digital communications have become an independent space of socialization for children and adolescents, while risks are often realized in a hidden communicative form (cyberbulbullying, online grooming, dissemination of destructive and sexualized content, unlawful use of personal data), which complicates early detection and legal assessment. The purpose of the study is to identify key international standards and to compare the regulatory and criminal law models of response being formed in different jurisdictions. The methodological framework includes formal legal and hermeneutic analysis of international and national acts, systemic and structural-functional approaches to assessing the distribution of duties between the state and digital intermediaries, as well as the comparative legal method for identifying common trends and differences (including the standards of the Council of Europe on cybercrime and the protection of children against sexual exploitation). It is shown that the modern model of protection is increasingly shifting from exclusively criminal prosecution to a combination of criminalization and preventive regulation of platforms.