To: Apple, Google, Microsoft, and the Government of the United States

In a world increasingly driven by technology, ensuring the safety of children online should transcend political conflicts and national borders. Yet, due to international sanctions—particularly those imposed by the U.S.—millions of children in countries like Iran, Syria, and libiya are denied access to essential tools such as parental control applications. These tools, which empower parents to protect their children from harmful content online, are currently unavailable on major platforms including iOS, Android, and Windows in these regions.

This restriction disproportionately harms children who have no part in the political decisions of their governments. Deprived of these tools, parents cannot effectively monitor or safeguard their children’s digital experiences. In places like Iran, where extensive internet filtering forces both adults and children to use VPNs to access basic services like YouTube or WhatsApp, children are inadvertently exposed to unsafe and inappropriate content, including pornography and the darker sides of the internet.

While sanctions may aim to pressure governments, their unintended consequences place children at greater risk, undermining their rights to safety and security in the digital space. Worse yet, authoritarian regimes could exploit this void to introduce their own "parental control" tools, repurposed as surveillance mechanisms, further endangering families’ privacy and autonomy.

Our Call to Action:
We urge Apple, Google, and Microsoft to act with moral and social responsibility by:

Exempting parental control tools from restrictions in sanctioned countries.
Publicly advocating for the exclusion of child-related services from sanctions policies.
Furthermore, we call on the U.S. government to review its sanctions framework and ensure that tools aimed at protecting children are explicitly excluded. No law or sanction, however well-intentioned, should compromise a child’s safety or wellbeing.

Why This Matters:
Children have universal rights. A child in Iran, Libya, or North Korea has the same fundamental need for protection as a child in the U.S. or Europe.
Digital safety is a basic right. In an era dominated by digital interaction, denying access to safety tools is a violation of children’s rights.
Global solidarity for children. The global community has a moral obligation to ensure that children everywhere have equal opportunities for safety and development.
A Message to Media Outlets:
We ask journalists, human rights organizations, and media platforms worldwide to amplify this cause. Raising public awareness and putting pressure on policymakers and corporations is critical to achieving this goal.

Children are the most vulnerable members of our society. They deserve our protection, regardless of the political disputes that divide nations. Let us stand united to ensure that no child is left unsafe due to sanctions or corporate decisions.

Author:
Saeed Souzangar
Network and Cybersecurity Specialist, Social Activist

Join us in this fight for justice and safety for children everywhere. Together, we can create a safer digital world for every child.